A course correction is required to avoid an area of subspace distortions, and with it, the fleet flies within sensor range of a system with a Class-M planet – one that Annira indicates has dilithium signatures, and also traces of an element called myrasium, a biological compound the Sikarians use in their life support systems. With both elements critical to the fleet, the Odyssey separates from the fleet and moves in to observe, discovering a pre-warp civilization below mining the dilithium to use as a power source, and using myrasium as medicine.

Opting to infiltrate them to learn more about how to potentially acquire the needed materials, an away team is assembled. Lt. Commander Sebastian opts to lead the team, along with the newly-appointed Chief Engineer Dash Ker’Ashh, Lt. Hobbs, and the freshly promoted counselor, Petra. The away team undergoes some minor cosmetic adjustments to blend in with the locals, and beams down. Once there, they learn that the people, called the Ch’Ghel, have been getting sick of late after witnessing ‘the Skyfire’ over the mines. The team investigates the mine and discovers the wreckage of a small alien ship, whose crashing has exposed internal workings that are irradiating the dilithium deposits. Worse, locals have been back to the mine since, and have taken portions of the ship’s reactor shielding, mistaking it for precious metals.

The mission suddenly becomes two-fold. Resource recovery, and quietly removing this existential threat from the Ch’ghel’s lives. After calling in tools from the ship, Dash and Hobbs work quickly to secure the wreckage, and beam it aboard the Odyssey ahead of sunrise. While they’re salvaging the wreckage, Sebastian and Petra return to town, and speak to an apothecary who’s been sold the reactor casing. Working together as competing buyers, the pair of officers convince the apothecary to part with the casing, removing the immediate threat to the community. Petra returns later and charms the apothecary into providing enough of the myrasium she had in her stores to boost the Sikarians’ life support for a while.

All that was left was the dilithium. Sebastian proposes decontaminating it, and taking no more than 25% of the vein’s haul, and both Dash and Petra have concerns – the primary one being that they don’t want the Ch’ghel hampered by the literal theft of their resources. Unable to negotiate in good faith due to the Prime Directive, Dash instead dedicates himself to an exhaustive sensor scan of the planet, seeking dilithium out of the peoples’ reach to potentially take. Petra joins him, the pair of previously junior officers managing to locate and retrieve a much smaller, but basically inaccessibly cache of dilithium ore on the planet’s ocean floor. Meanwhile, engineers beam down in the night to quietly decontaminate the dilithium the Ch’ghel have been mining, preventing further harm.

As the Odyssey rejoins the fleet with a haul that should keep them all in space for least another year, Sebastian and the Commodore meet and discuss the mission, and how the new officers stepped up and not only served the fleet, but also Starfleet ideals. With this, and a Night Academy graduation coming up, the Commodore decides it’s high time members of the ship have been promoted commensurate to their level of competency, and proposes a large fleet event to do so.