Season 5 Episode 1 of Star Trek: Discovery opens with a tantalizing glimpse of Captain Michael Burnham, standing enigmatically on an unknown vessel. The scene shifts to a flashback, revealing Burnham attending a festive reception on board the Discovery, celebrating Federation Day.
Amidst the revelry, Saru drops a bombshell: he has been offered a prestigious position as a Federation ambassador, but his heart is torn between pursuing this new path and leaving the Discovery behind. Elsewhere, Vance summons Burnham to Kovich's ultra-secret "Infinity Room" for a briefing on a mysterious 24th-century Romulan science vessel discovered at the fringes of the Beta Quadrant. Burnham promptly declares the mission a "Red Directive," signaling its utmost importance.
Vance orders the Antares and the Discovery to make haste to Q’Mau. Before departing, Burnham assigns Sylvia Tilly a covert task: to delve into Fed HQ's databases, bypassing Kovich's watchful eye.
The team arrives on the desolate planet and encounters Fred: an eccentric android fascinated by a puzzling box. He eagerly opens it, revealing an ancient Romulan journal filled with scribbles and diagrams. Fred offers a risky deal involving three bars of latinum, but the gamble ends in tragedy when his team is slain, leaving him with a gaping hole in his chest.
The Federation arrives too late to intervene, but they beam the remains of Fred back to their ship, determined to track down the perpetrators. Meanwhile, at the Academy, Tilly is caught red-handed while conducting unauthorized hacking. Vance intervenes to cover her tracks, increasingly frustrated with Kovich's antics.
Tilly stumbles upon an old recording of a Romulan scientist revealing secrets encoded in the journal, hinting at the existence of "twin moons" and an "ancient technology" that must not fall into the wrong hands.
Michael, Book, and Rayner embark on a thrilling bike chase through the desert, while Moll and L’ak plot an escape route through a series of tunnels. The team debates their next move, with Burnham cautioning Rayner that closing the tunnel with the Antares could trigger an avalanche, potentially destroying the nearby town.
The episode ends on a tense note, leaving viewers eager for the next installment of this thrilling Star Trek adventure.
Rayner took a leap of faith, and fortunately, no avalanche materialized. But the thieves, bent on causing chaos, plotted to trigger one anyhow. The group scrambled to devise a plan to safeguard the town, ultimately concluding that the most viable option was to utilize both ships as makeshift sand barriers, forming a protective wall.
While Rayner harbored doubts about the unconventional strategy, he reluctantly agreed to proceed when reminded that Starfleet's paramount objective was always to safeguard lives. The town was successfully spared, and the relieved locals erupted in cheers. However, Rayner remained apart from the festivities, his mind clouded by the fact that Moll and L'ak had once again managed to escape.
The episode drew to a close with Hugh and Paul poring over Fred's positronic brain, searching for clues. Suddenly, Burnham stumbled upon a pivotal piece of information that pinpointed the location of the "twin moons". This revelation gave her the ammunition she needed to confront Kovich, who had been barking up the wrong planet.
It transpired that the deceased Romulan scientist was named Dr. Vellek, and he had been present when Captain Jean-Luc Picard discovered a message left by ancient beings who were the creators of "every humanoid species in the galaxy". Vellek had stumbled upon their advanced technology, and now, the coveted prize of "the greatest treasure in the known galaxy" hung in the balance, with Moll and L'ak hot on its trail.
