The year 3189: The crew of the USS Discovery regains consciousness after passing through the wormhole. The ship crash lands in an ice field on an unknown planet. Main systems including sensors and communication are down, so it is not possible to determine the current location and time. Lt. Detmer does not feel well, but Doctor Pollard registers no injuries and sends her back to duty as there are more serious cases to take care of. Stamets too returns to his work. Acting Captain Saru dismisses Georgiou's requests to tend to the communications with priority and take what they need from a nearby settlement by force. He assigns her to just support the repairs. Saru himself departs for the settlement with Tilly, in the hope to barter assistance for the rare dilithium that the ship still has a supply of. The two arrive in a bar in a Coridan mining colony, whose inhabitants are afraid of someone named Zareh. A man named Kal repairs the damaged transtator with programmable matter. Meanwhile on the Discovery, work is progressing but the ice is parasitic and slowly encompasses the ship. Zareh and his henchmen materialize and enter the bar. He murders Kal and demands to be taken to the Discovery, with the obvious intention to pillage the ship. Saru proposes a deal: dilithium in exchange for their freedom. Then Zareh's henchmen capture Georgiou, who was on the way to the settlement against her orders. She and Saru team up and kill all but Zareh with martial arts. Georgiou intends to shoot Zareh, but Saru interferes and leaves the decision to Os'ir, the bartender, who chooses to spare Zareh's life. On the Discovery, Stamets manages to restore main power despite his injuries, and the ship prepares to lift off. Another ship appears and uses a tractor beam to release the Discovery. The crew prepares for a fight, but then Michael Burnham shows up on the viewscreen. She has been waiting for a year for the Discovery to arrive in her time.

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