With tensions and stakes high as Starfleet continues in their efforts to end the war with the Klingons, Burnham begins to settle in to her new position aboard the U.S.S. Discovery.

Sonequa Martin-Green (Crewman Michael Burnham)
Doug Jones (Commander Saru)
Shazad Latif (Lt. Ash Tyler)
Anthony Rapp (Lt. Paul Stamets)
Mary Wiseman (Cadet Sylvia Tilly)
Jason Isaacs (Captain Gabriel Lorca)

Michelle Yeoh (Captain Philippa Georgiou)

Jayne Brook (Admiral Katrina Cornwell)
Mary Chieffo (L'Rell)
Wilson Cruz (Dr. Hugh Culber)
Kenneth Mitchell (General Kol)
Rekha Sharma (Cmdr. Ellen Landry)

Dennis Andres (Engineer Rance)
Emily Coutts (Lt. Keyla Detmer)
Jordana Blake (Betarian Girl)
Julianne Grossman (Discovery Computer)
Javid Iqbal (Voq)
Sara Mitich (Lt. Cmdr. Airiam)
Oyin Oladejo (Lt. Joann Owosekun)
Christopher Russell (Lt. Milton Richter)
Tasia Valenzia (Shenzhou Computer)

• Michael Burnham joins the Discovery's science division. She is given no rank, so she wears no badge.
  
• Discovery must travel via spore drive to Corvan II, which is under attack by Klingon forces. Corvan II is a dilithium mining colony.
  
• This episode introduces Dr. Hugh Culber, one of Discovery's medical officers.
  
• This episode introduces Admiral Cornwell.
  
• The Klingons aboard T'Kuvma's sarcophagus ship have been stranded at the binary stars since the battle. They are starving and L'Rell reveals they had to resort to eating Captain Georgiou. When Kol arrives, he bribes the crew with food and takes the ship for its cloaking technology, leaving Voq stranded on the adrift Shenzhou.
  
• Commander Landry dies in this episode after provoking the tardigrade creature, which she nicknamed "Ripper".
  
• The crew uses the technology from the U.S.S. Glenn to attach "Ripper" to the spore drive to function as its "navigator." However, the drive appears to be killing the creature…
  
• Though credited in the title sequence, Shazad Latif (Tyler) does not appear in this episode.
  
• Michelle Yeoh appears as Captain Georgiou in a recording of her will left for Burnham. She leaves Burnham the telescope that has been handed down in her family for generations.