Burnham, in command of the Terran Empire's Shenzhou, has no choice but to brutally send rebel after rebel to their death. When the order comes down to destroy the Firewolf — the Klingon leader of the resistance — Burnham sees an opportunity no one else does. While Lorca gives a completely expected recommendation, "Sometimes the end justifies the terrible means," Burnham wants to find out how this Klingon became the leader of a coalition of non-Klingons. How can a Klingon do such a thing and still maintain their honor; how can they "remain Klingon" while simultaneously accepting and working with others who are so different? It's the ultimate plot point, and Burnham sees it as the solution to her Universe's indecipherable conundrum.

Stamets, meanwhile, remains the only surefire hope for returning the crew of Discovery to their original Universe. As revealed by Tilly, however, his mind has degraded, and what lies before them no longer seems to be Stamets. It's almost as though his brain has been entangled with the tardigrade and the spores, and what remains is now no longer wholly any one of the three entities. Tilly has the idea of using the spores to try and repair Stamets' mind — to put the mycelium network inside of him — with unclear risks and results. Meanwhile, Burnham executes her plan, beaming herself and Tyler to the surface to negotiate with the resistance. And who does she meet on the surface? Voq: the Firewolf. And who happens to be in his coalition? This Universe's Sarek.



After warning the Firewolf of the impending destruction of their site, helping them to survive, Burnham confronts the Firewolf's ideology with what she knows about the Klingons. As he explains embracing a mix of purity (within his own group) and diversity (to achieve a broader end), the inner workings of Tyler simply break, and the memories of Voq (and his memories of T'Kuvma) can no longer remain buried, and he leaps into action to attack the Firewolf with a cry to "Remain Klingon or die!"



After a scuffle, Tyler/Voq is defeated, and he and Burnham are returned to their ship. The crew, meanwhile, is suspicious of Burnham's reluctance to bomb the resistance. It puts her at great risk of blowing her cover.



Tilly's attempt to merge the spores with Stamets is not very successful, as his mind fails to emerge intact and his body starts to die. Saru calls in the medical team to save his body; the fate of his mind is undetermined. Burnham and Saru orchestrate a plan to beam the traitor Tyler into space, to surreptitiously save him, while also keeping him as a prisoner on Discovery. All is revealed about who Tyler is: his fight aboard the Ship of the Dead with Burnham, the witnessing of the death of T'Kuvma, and his true identity as Voq: son of none, the torchbearer. He may turn out to be the key to peace, if Discovery can ever make it back to their own Universe. Meanwhile, something is occurring in Stamets' mind; something about him is starting to find his way.



In the end, though, Burnham's hesitation and delay in firing on the resistance base may turn out to be the only action that matters, as the Emperor arrived, firing a spread of torpedoes. As the hope for the resistance vanish in a haze of Terran Empire explosives, the Emperor reveals herself to the once-again-treacherous Burnham. It's Philippa Georgiou, alive, well, and supremely ruthless. Despite all they've learned, this could be the demise of their grand plan. The one hope? Along with Tyler, a message was smuggled to Saru aboard Discovery: the Terran Empire's classified data on the USS Defiant, and potentially the key to finding their way home.