Stardate 57436.2: The USS Cerritos is tasked with making "second contact" with the Galardonians. During a stopover at Douglas Station, new crew members board the ship. Among them is Ensign Tendi, an Orion science officer, who is impressed about her new assignment. Ensign Brad Boimler, a timid but ambitious young officer, is officially assigned to show her round, but they are joined by Ensign Mariner, who is notorious for her problems with authority. On the Galardonian homeworld, Commander Ransom is bitten by an insect but does not deem that important. As the cybernetically enhanced Ensign Rutherford has a date with crewmate Ensign Barnes in the ship's lounge, Ransom begins to attack and bite other crew members, infecting them with what will be identified as the "rage virus". Rutherford and Barnes stay calm and escape unscathed. In the meantime, Mariner supplies a Galardonian farm with what looks like weapons to Boimler, who was ordered by Captain Carol Freeman to report Mariner's breaches of conduct. But it turns out to be just farming equipment. A giant spider escapes from the stable and attacks the two, but the animal turns out herbivore and just sucks moisture out of Boimler's body, engulfing him in slime. When the two beam up to the ship, Doctor T'Ana finds that the slime cures the rage virus, and distributes an antidote through the ship's environmental systems. Boimler reports that Mariner did not breach regulations. It turns out that Mariner is actually Captain Freeman's daughter but no one on the ship is aware of that.

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