A voice said, Look me in the stars
And tell me truly, men of earth,
If all the soul-and-body scars
Were not too much to pay for birth.

– ‘A Question,’ Robert Frost

The Omega Crisis has been resolved, the ancient galactic-spanning network of Tkon technology repaired, its malfunction no longer leaking the dangerous molecule through space. Endeavour has paid a price for this success, their helmsman Lieutenant Drake killed in action, their Chief Science Officer Commander Airex requesting transfer with no explanation to those closest to him. Even those aboard still find themselves at odds. The rift between Lieutenant Kharth and Captain Rourke, born when she refused his order to destroy the Romulan ship Erem, has yet to heal. Lieutenant Rhade, once confined to the brig for that same refusal of orders, has yet to reconcile with Lieutenant Thawn, whose appeals for compromise he ignored.

Endeavour has stopped at Starbase Bravo for debrief and repair, of both the ship and the crew’s nerves. There is a flicker of hope on the horizon, with the diplomat Sophia Hale offering to turn Endeavour into a vessel of peace, joining her mission to help the people of the fraught former Neutral Zone – but first, they must face the consequences of their actions.