Booker and Tarka have escaped with the spore drive prototype and are out of scanning range, but for their isolytic weapon to work they still need isolynium. The region of space where Species 10-C is located is unknown. But the warp-capable Stilph, 30 light-years away and just inside the Galactic Barrier, may have star charts. Since the Federation has never been in contact with them, Burnham proposes to visit a broker on Porathia she knows from her time as a courier, to acquire the data. This broker, Haz Mazaro, also happens to be the person that Book and Tarka want to purchase isolynium from. Mazaro demands more latinum than the two have, but they offer him to expose cheaters in his x. In the meantime, Burnham and Owosekun have arrived too. They get the star map, but Mazaro sees an opportunity to raise the price for the rare substance yet again. He rejects Burnham's proposal to have more latinum delivered because he dislikes Starfleet. Owosekun suggests to earn the missing latinum in the fighting arena. She loses her first two matches, but encourages Burnham to go all in on the third attempt. Owosekun wins. As they are collecting their winnings, they are attacked by the loser, upon which Book comes to help them. In turn, Burnham assists Book and Tarka in apprehending a cheater, who turns out to be a shapeshifter and whom Tarka finally confines in a forcefield. Both parties now demand the isolynium from Mazaro. But Mazaro presents two Emerald Chain holdouts who would also like to buy the substance. He arranges a game of Leonian a to decide. The two Emerald Chain members drop out, leaving only Burnham and Book. Burnham tries to persuade Book one last time to return with him, upon which he goes all in, and she follows. Book wins, and he and Tarka take the isolynium. But Burnham planted a tracker on the isolynium container, which gives away the position of Tarka and Book as they are still assembling the weapon. On the Discovery, Stamets has analyzed the star chart. It turns out that Species 10-C inhabits a region that is impervious to scans, surrounded by a shield that would require a huge amount of energy to uphold. The lack of boronite, an element that is usually found in very low concentrations in space, gives away that the DMA, rather than being a weapon, actually harvests this element, which can be used for power generation.

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