Stardate not given: A Romulan ship gets attacked and destroyed by an unknown vessel. Meanwhile on the Cerritos, Mariner overhears a conversion with Shaxs, in which Commander Ransom mentions she won't be his problem for long. Mariner thinks he is giving up on her and starts to work actively on her demotion by provoking Ransom. Rutherford, on the other hand, is disappointed that he is now separated from his friends. He works on engineering improvements to impress Billups and get promoted. But a new guy named Livik always beats him to it. Ransom, Mariner and a fresh ensign named Gary arrive at a galactic zoo where two humans are being held against their will. The curator named Narj, a botanical lifeform, is willing to release them. But then a cute and seemingly harmless creature named Moopsy is set free and begins to devour lifeforms with bones. They run to a safe room, where Ransom and Mariner have a discussion about her defiant conduct. He clarifies that he said she wouldn't be a problem for long because he expects her to fit in her new position. Mariner affirms she didn't release Moopsy, which he believes. The ensign blames Narj, who is a tree after all and doesn't seem to have bones. But then Moopsy finds a way into their hiding place and swallows Narj. Mariner, Ransom and Gary escape and close the door behind them - only to notice that the creature is now in the main control room. The station is going to crash into a planet. Mariner volunteers to lure Moopsy out of the control room. Ransom, however, has a better idea. Using his teeth as bait, they manage to lock up the creature in a habitat and stabilize the orbit of the station. It turns out that the imprisoned humans actually released Moopsy to get control over the zoo. On the Cerritos, Boimler is unhappy with his new quarters, which is right next to the bright red glow of the Bussard collectors. He gets a new one that happens to be located between the thin walls of two holodecks. Rutherford is not happy either, as Livik is going to get a pip for his engineering efforts. He tells Tendi that he himself turned down previous promotions, upon which Tendi asks Billups whether Rutherford shouldn't be promoted right now. Billups gives the pip to Rutherford, who joins Boimler in his new quarters, once again next to the nacelle - but the engineer knows how to dim the windows.

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