In an underwater habitat, a humanoid-merperson species hunts a whale-like creature. Chasing after them in an aquatic shuttle, Dal, Jankom, and Gwyn discuss how the aquathong is one of the last of its kind and how the ecosystem depends on its species’ survival.

Gwyn gets the aquathong’s attention to lure it away from the hunters. Dal reminds the motion-sick Jankom that they’re doing this to prove to Starfleet that they’re making good use of the Protostar’s resources.

Gwyn has a flashback to The Diviner’s revelation that the Protostar is a weapon that will destroy the Federation if it ever comes in contact with Starfleet or its computers. While she’s distracted, the aquathong swallows their vessel.

Dal contacts Zero for help and Zero beams them and the aquathong onto the Protostar. The aquathong spits them back out and Rok catches them.

Zero checks in with Gwyn. She tells them what she saw. Zero is remorseful for their part in her memory loss.

Rok announces the aquathong is pregnant. The Protostar finds safer waters where the aquathong can give birth and live without the danger of being hunted. They beam her down.

Stardate 61209.5 Dal reports they are weeks out from Tars Lamora. They’ve been doing good deeds in that time, hoping to impress Starfleet. Gwyn’s memories are still lost except for occasional flashes. The Protostar is approaching a Starfleet relay station, CR-721. They plan to ask for asylum.

Dal is insecure about the welcome they’ll get. Janeway reassures him it’ll be worth the risk.

They come aboard the relay station but it seems abandoned.

Suddenly a Denobulan science officer arrives, apologizing for being unprepared to welcome them. He is Lieutenant Junior Grade Barniss Frex.

The crew explains they aren’t Starfleet and want to return the ship and ask for asylum with the hopes of joining Starfleet for real.

Frex is welcoming. He invites each of them to walk through the biometric scanner. It identifies Jankom Pog as a Tellarite, Rok-Tahk as Brikar, Gwyn as an unregistered species, Murf as a Mellanoid slime worm, Zero as a Medusan, and Dal as a classified species.

Frex tells Dal that he has to report to Starfleet Command to find out what his species is.

Frex invites the crew to relax and enjoy the relay station's amenities.

Holodeck flash back: The USS Protostar’s christening was attended by its captain, Chakotay, and Vice-Admiral Janeway who thought he was crazy for wanting to go out exploring the Delta Quadrant again.

Vice-Admiral Janeway freezes the program. Commander Tysess enters and lets her know they’ve tracked the Protostar’s warp signature to a planetoid in the Carina nebula. Before she leaves, she vows to find Chakotay.

On the relay station, Rok and Murf ask the computer about science. Meanwhile, Zero takes Gwyn to the sickbay to see if the better tech can help her regain her memories. Before she gets into the bio-bed she asks Zero what happened to The Diviner. Zero promises The Diviner cannot hurt her anymore. She interprets this to mean The Diviner is dead.

Jankom Pog has replicated a mountain of hot dogs. He eats and tells Dal all about the royal status of Tellarites.

Frex starts an uplink to the Protostar to download the ship logs. This triggers The Diviner’s secret weapon. The station’s systems immediately become corrupted. Rok’s computer shuts down. Jankom’s replicator starts shooting burnt hot dogs out. Zero leaves the sickbay to see what’s going on but realizes the bio-bed is filling with water with Gwyn inside.

Zero calls everyone to sickbay.

The station’s weapons deploy and start cutting the station apart. The crew find each other but don’t know the way to sickbay.

In the bio-bed, Gwyn is completely submerged and flashes to The Diviner’s stasis chamber. She sees The Diviner watching her from outside the chamber, saying, “It is the weapon.” When Dal isn’t able to cut through the bio-bed cover, she activates her fretwork weapon and breaks out.

Janeway contacts them and advises they get back to the Protostar right away. They run into Frex in the corridor. He accuses them of destroying his station. The station cuts off the connecting bridge to the Protostar. Janeway’s unable to beam them off the station. Frex grabs the only escape pod and leaves the crew behind, calling them saboteurs.

Dal suggests they suit up in EV suits and leap across to the Protostar. Out on the hull of the station, Dal tasks Rok with calculating how they have to jump in order to get back to the ship. They leap and miss the ship. Luckily, the tractor beam still works.

As they are drawn to the ship, Gwyn finally remembers what The Diviner told her about the weapon he’d hidden on the Protostar.

The Dauntless arrives at Tars Lamora and Janeway leads her team on the surface. They find The Diviner in his state of stasis. They plan to rescue him, revive him, then question him.