The crew of the Discovery continue their search for the Federation Headquarters. Adira's symbiont Tal may have the decisive information, but Adira can neither communicate with Tal nor access their own memories. Therefore the ship jumps to Trill, in the hope of finding support with this issue. Burnham accompanies Adira to the surface where they talk with Leader Pav, Commissioner Vos and Guardian Xi. The planet has been hit hard by the Burn, which decimated its population. There are only few viable hosts left. Whereas Vos is appalled by the idea of an alien carrying a Trill symbiont and demands Tal to be extracted from Adira, Xi is willing to allow them into the sacred Caves of Mak'ala so they can reconnect. Pav can't resolve the conflict and rules that Adira has to leave Trill. On their way to the shuttle, Vos tries to kidnap Adira, but Burnham disables him and his guards. Xi appears and leads them to the caves. On the ship, Saru invites his senior officers for dinner, in order to thank and encourage them. The event, however, ends prematurely with a quarrel between Detmer and Stamets. In the caves on Trill, Adira enters the pool to connect with their symbiont. But after a while they sink to the bottom. Burnham is worried and follows Adira. The two establish a telepathic link. Burnham encourages Adira to allow the symbiont to connect with them, even though the memories are painful. Tal was previously joined with Gray, Adira's boyfriend. The two were on a generation ship on the way to the Federation Headquarters. Gray was fatally wounded after an asteroid collision, and the medical drones could only save Tal by implanting the symbiont into Adira. Following the successful reconnection with the previous hosts, including Senna Tal, Adira turns down the offer to stay on Trill and returns to the Discovery. After the failure to boost the team spirit with the dinner, Saru arranges a slapstick movie event in the shuttlebay at the suggestion of the ship's computer, which is a success. Back on the ship, it turns out that Gray is still present in some fashion, and Adira can talk to him.

• E03 Previous
• E05 Next