The possibility of contacting the rest of the Odyssey Squadron becomes a reality as the Constitution prepares to test their new experimental hyper-subspace radio. However, when they direct it to a nearby cyclic pulsar, the feedback causes damage not only to the communication system but to almost every system on the ship. Eventually, every system starts to fail except for one, the holodeck, where one program must run its course to bring an unexpected first contact to a possible tragic end.