The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

                – ‘The Second Coming,’ William Butler Yeats

The bold efforts of Cortez and Airex have saved the refugee world of Teros from the Omega particle. But it came at a heavy price when a ship of the Romulan Star Empire attempted to seize Omega for itself and flee with it. Not only was Captain Rourke forced to order the destruction of the ship Erem, but found his orders refused, first by Chief Tactical Officer Lieutenant Kharth, then by Officer of the Watch Lieutenant Rhade. Torpedoes were ultimately fired by XO Commander Valance, Kharth and Rhade confined in the brig, and Captain Rourke’s actions were backed by Fourth Fleet Command under the Omega Directive – but the damage has been significant.

Worse, the Omega crisis has forced Endeavour to leave Teros, abandoning the humanitarian mission the outbreak interrupted. Furious locals, betrayed by Starfleet again, became an angry mob pinning down an engineering team trying to leave – and as violence broke out, Chief Helm Officer Lieutenant Drake was tragically killed. With Rhade and Kharth in the brig, Drake dead, and Commander Airex’s transfer finally coming through as he joins Admiral Beckett’s staff, Endeavour is facing not just a crisis of galactic proportions, but a crisis of staff and conscience.

And with the technology of the ancient Tkon Empire believed responsible for the Omega crisis, there is no time to recover as a hunt for knowledge begins…