The Protostar is still hiding in the Neutral Zone, with damaged nacelles, the new crew member Okona, and Murf learning to use his hands and feet.

Dal is having issues with Okona’s popularity among the crew.

The priority is to find a star port where the ship can dock and get repairs done. Okona recommends Noble Isle, a port he knows well.

Outside the Neutral Zone, Vice Admiral Janeway pleads with Admiral Jellico to let her enter the Neutral Zone to retrieve the Protostar and its crew. Jellico denies the request on the ground that it’ll endanger the peace talks. His final word on the matter is that if the Romulans attempt to take the Protostar, the Dauntless is to destroy it.

The Protostar arrives at Noble Isle, a star port only accessible by a space elevator because the planet is rife with ion storms.

Okona explains that Noble Isle is at the forefront of experimental scientific research that the Federation doesn’t sanction or condone.

Jankom and Zero stay aboard the ship to conduct repairs. The rest head down to the planet to find parts.

As the away team rides down the elevator, a commercial for Dr. Jago’s genetic augmentation process plays. Rok is excited to hear Jago is a geneticist. Okona shares that Jago is the client he is meeting with.

Jago is impressed with Rok’s scientific mind but unhappy with Okona’s lateness with her shipment of gelatinous putricine. Her mood changes quickly when she spots Dal.

Examining him, she states that while she’s never seen anyone like him, she knows his origins. He doesn’t come from a where, he comes from a who. Using a tuft of his hair to read his DNA, she confirms that he is the handiwork of the protegees of Dr. Arik Soong, a geneticist that defected from the Federation.

Jago points out that Dal’s DNA started with a human, making him a human augment. Dal is devastated by the news. In an effort to cheer him up, Jago offers to bring out his dormant genes, giving him a host of new special abilities.

Rok and Gwyn warn him that he doesn’t need fixing. They like him just the way he is. Dal declines the offer initially, but as the others head out, he stays behind and inquires about how quickly the procedure can be done.

On the Dauntless, Ensign Asencia sits with The Diviner as he tries to remember what his mission is. Vice Admiral Janeway enters and Asencia offers to covertly enter the Neutral Zone. Janeway isn’t willing to disobey a direct order but it occurs to her that the Romulans are probably thinking about entering the Neutral Zone as well. She orders Asencia to listen in on any Romulan subspace chats.

On Noble Isle, a team of Romulans transports onto the space elevator tower, looking down onto the docked Protostar.

Okona entertains the away team on the way back from the salvage yard with his story of the Jewel of Thesia from TNG Season 2 Episode 4. Dal rejoins them and adds the fact that Okona took the job because it would make a heartwarming story.

Dal seems more physically adept and starts using bigger words in his conversation. Gwyn is suspicious. They head back to the ship.

Jankom hears something while he’s working and calls out for Zero. A disruptor grenade is thrown at him and knocks him out.

Zero is working on getting Hologram Janeway to stop glitching. Suddening they sense an unknown presence on board. Another disruptor grenade is thrown and their mechanical suit shorts out. Hologram Janeway identifies the tech as Romulan.

The boarding party disrupts the holo-emitters, knocking Hologram Janeway out too. They realize the commands are locked to the captain’s authorization. They dive off the space elevator tower in anti-grav suits to reach the surface as quickly as possible and search for the captain.

Ensign Asencia reports the movements of the Romulan away team. Vice Admiral Janeway can’t imagine a group of teenagers being able to withstand a team of Romulan Tal Shiar. Commander Tysess reports their mini-torpedoes are ready when needed. Their orders remain to destroy the Protostar before the Romulans can take it.

When Rok and Gwyn pause to look in a pet shop window, Dal senses danger. The Tal Shiar team surrounds them. They assume Okona is the captain and take him into custody. Dal blows that story and Okona slips away.

Dal activates his new implant and attacks the Tal Shiar. All his dormant traits are activated at once and start to conflict.

Murf is getting increasingly agitated in his carrying case. Dal’s feeling unwell. They head for the elevator. More Tal Shiar follow.

On their way up the elevator, Tal Shiar agents flank the Protostar crew and aim weapons at their elevator car, cracking the casing. Gwyn realizes the pod will crack under the pressure and gets everyone to suit up with air helmets.

Dal is now oozing slime. The first Tal Shiar to board their pod slips on it and falls out. Rok sees another Tal Shiar preparing a large metal weapon and notices there’s lightning in the ion storm around them. She tells Gwyn to drop her heirloom/fretwork shield. Lightning strikes and when their pod comes alongside the Tal Shiar’s, both Tal Shiar have been electrocuted.

The remaining Tal Shiar are catching up to their lift pod.

On the Dauntless, Vice Admiral Janeway fires the mini-torpedoes.

Dal senses something from Murf and tells Rok to open the carrying case. Murf launches himself out and straight at the Tal Shiar lift pod. He takes them all out and returns with a happy whirring sound back to the carrying case.

The mini-torpedoes are nearly at their target when Tysess announces the Romulans failed and the Protostar crew have survived the encounter. Janeway orders the torpedo hit aborted and they are redirected to detonate in empty space. Asencia leaves the bridge, looking troubled.

Dal apologizes for getting the implant and admits to his sense of inferiority around Okona. Gwyn reassures him that he’s better than Okona who ran away and abandoned them.

On board the Protostar, Rok records her first Science log now that Murf is officially the ship’s Security Chief. The ship has all the parts they need for Jankom to complete the nacelle repairs. Zero and Rok manage to remove Dal’s implant.

On the Dauntless, Asencia enters The Diviner’s quarters with a very different demeanor and tone. She insists they need to make a change and orders Drednok to activate. The Diviner’s coffee table opens and reveals a Drednok machine who states “There is no barrier we cannot overcome.” Asencia reaches behind her collar and reveals an implant like Dal’s. She activates it and turns from Trill to Vau N’Akat. She informs The Diviner he wasn’t the only one sent back to find the Protostar.