Stardate not given: While the crew of the Protostar is struggling to regain control of the ship, Asencia aka the Vindicator, with the backing of Admiral Jellico, opens fire. Her intention is to break through the shields and beam over, to ensure that the Protostar opens a channel and the Living Construct gets activated. Rather than repairing the protostar drive, the priority for the young crew now is to boost the shields. On the Dauntless, Admiral Janeway convinces a member or her crew, a Brenari refugee whom she once rescued from the Devore, to release her from the brig. But she is too late. The Diviner, the Vindicator and the Drednok have already beamed over. While the Drednok disables the crew one by one, the other two proceed to the bridge. The Vindicator, however, locks up the Diviner in the weapons room because she suspects he is not ready to complete the mission. A fight with Gwyn ensues. As the Diviner escapes from his prison, the Vindicator kills him and activates the weapon. The ships of the fleet begin to fire at each other. The Vindicator escapes, encased in the Drednok. There is no way of stopping the ongoing destruction of Starfleet. But it could be slowed down, if ships without a Starfleet signature came to take the fire. As the universal translator is offline, it is up to language talent Gwyn to call allies for help. After a while, a Klingon Bird-of-Prey and other alien ships arrive - but also backup from Starfleet. There is only one way to end the annihilation: The Protostar must be destroyed. It would be possible to detonate the engine core, but that would destroy the whole star system. Rok-Tahk suggests to spread the explosion by simultaneously activating the protostar drive. The crew could replicate a shuttle and escape, but one person would have to stay aboard to detonate the core. The Janeway hologram volunteers, and promises to create a backup of herself. When she hands over a isolinear chip to Dal, she doesn't tell him that the memory capacity was insufficient. Dal, Gwyn, Rok-Tahk, Jankom, Zero and Murf leave the ship in the shuttle, while Janeway blows up the ship according to plan. Without the Living Construct controlling the Starfleet ships, the fighting stops. Admiral Janeway returns to Earth without being able to find the Protostar crew. At Starfleet Headquarters, an officer replays a message that was sent by Chakotay 52 years in the future and that arrived through a wormhole created by the Protostar when it exploded. Then news breaks of the arrival of the Protostar crew on Earth. Janeway successfully defends them against the charges, and they are accepted into Starfleet Academy - except for Gwyn, who is going to search for her homeworld. Janeway chooses to personally supervise the cadets and reveals a new Protostar-class ship to them.

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