Stardate 865661.2: Burnham and Saru are to represent Starfleet during the final negotiations for Ni'Var's readmission to the Federation, as Admiral Vance is reportedly ill. Tilly, whose desire is to leave her comfort zone, follows Dr. Culber's advice and leads a Starfleet Academy training mission, together with Adira Tal. Their shuttle is hit by a gamma ray burst and crashes on the ice moon Kokytos, killing Lt. Callum. Tilly and Tal are now stranded with three cadets, the human Val Sasha, the Orion Harral and the Tellarite Taahz Gorev, who are reluctant to work together. On Ni'Var, President T'Rina demands an exit clause for her planet, which President Rillak declines. The two are about to break off the negotiations, but Burnham and Saru feel that there is more to the issue and that they may be of assistance. On the ice moon, the shuttle gets attacked by an indigenous lifeform, the Tuscadian pyrosome. Tilly orders everyone to follow her to a nearby ridge, from where they can be located by the USS Armstrong and beamed up in six hours. However, Adira's feet get trapped in ice, and they can only be freed with a common effort. Tilly gets the cadets to talk out their differences. In order to keep the negotiations running, Saru speaks with T'Rina and Burnham with Rillak. It turns out that they are both expected to stick to the promises they made beforehand, and that suggesting a compromise would weaken their position. So Burnham proposes a Starfleet committee to find a solution. On the top of the ridge on Kokytos, Adira volunteers to distract the Tuscadian pyrosomes as the Armstrong has not yet arrived, but Tilly insists on doing it herself. All the survivors are rescued. Back at Starfleet Headquarters, Kovich offers the lieutenant a teaching position at Starfleet Academy. Ni'Var rejoins the Federation. On the Discovery, Book further works on coping with his grief in counseling sessions with Culber, while Gray Tal is looking forward to meeting crew members who he knows but who have never seen him in person. Tilly eventually decides to accept the job offer and leaves for Starfleet Academy.

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