Stardate not given: When venomous creatures attack an outpost on Persioff IX, Mariner once again unnecessarily risks her life. She hurries to restore the forcefield, although she could have taken a protective suit. Captain Freeman has intel that the unknown enemy now targets ex-Starfleet officers such as Seven of Nine, Beverly Crusher, Thomas Riker or Nick Locarno. The Cerritos is to find and escort Locarno to safety, but Freeman is worried Mariner could use the opportunity and get herself into danger again. Tendi recommends to send her to repair an old space buoy in the Sherbal system instead. As T'Lyn, Tendi, Boimler and Mariner have finished the boring work on the station, their shuttle is attacked by a rogue Klingon Bird-of-Prey. They transport down to the surface of the planet Sherbal V, which is frequently ravaged by storms. They witness ongoing struggles between members of different species that are all stranded here. Mariner sneaks away from her friends and gets into a fight with the Klingon Ma'ah. The two need to seek shelter when glass begins to rain from the sky. Ma'ah gets Mariner to talk about her problems. She says that it all started with her Academy friend Sito Jaxa getting promoted ahead of her and then killed in action and continued with the horrors of the Dominion War, after which she was unwilling to be more than an ensign. Ma'ah tells Mariner she should honor her friend and accept the promotion, and she admits that he is right. They join forces to convince the castaways (Romulans, Ferengi, Cardassians, Bynars) to work together. When Tendi aka the Mistress of the Winter Constellations appears, the Orions too agree to cooperate. They plan to modify an old station on the surface to transmit a distress call. But then Mariner is suddenly beamed away. Ma'ah has a plan. As the Klingon Bird-of-Prey appears to destroy the transmitter, he and his new allies capture the ship. Yet, there is no sign of Mariner. In the meantime on New Axton, Freeman, Shaxs and Rutherford attempt in vain to purchase information about Locarno's whereabouts from a broker. No one on this planet likes Starfleet. An alien bounty hunter appears and manages to obtain the information instead. This alien turns out to be Billups. Freeman was aware of the bias of the people on New Axton and used it against them. As they arrive at Locarno's place, he is not there - but they are baffled to find the schematics of the mysterious enemy ship. Mariner wakes up on that ship and learns that no one else but Locarno is the perpetrator...

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