Captain Burnham and the crew of the U.S.S. Discovery are sent to retrieve a mysterious artifact hidden inside a 800-year-old Romulan vessel — but find that they’re not the only ones on the hunt. Meanwhile, Saru is offered the position of a lifetime.

Sonequa Martin-Green (Captain Michael Burnham)
Doug Jones (Captain Saru)
Anthony Rapp (Lt. Cmdr. Paul Stamets)
Mary Wiseman (Lieutenant Sylvia Tilly)
Wilson Cruz (Dr. Hugh Culber)
Blu del Barrio (Ensign Adira Tal)
Callum Keith Rennie (Captain Rayner)
David Ajala (Cleveland Booker)

Oded Fehr (Admiral Charles Vance)
David Cronenberg (Dr. Kovich)
Annabelle Wallis (Zora)
Tara Rosling (President T'Rina)
Eve Harlow (Moll)
Elias Toufexis (L'ak)

Emily Coutts (Lt. Cmdr. Keyla Detmer)
Patrick Kwok-Choon (Lt. Cmdr. Gen Rhys)
Oyin Oladejo (Lt. Cmdr. Joann Owosekun)
Orville Cummings (Lieutenant Christopher)
David Benjamin Tomlinson (Lieutenant Linus)
Victoria Sawal (Lt. Naya)
Natalie Liconti (Lt. Gallo)
J. Adam Brown (Fred)
Gregory Calderone (Lt. Jax)
Mei Chung (UFP Presidental Aide)
Michael Copeman (Dr. Vellek)
Julianne Grossman (EV Suit Computer)
Addison Holley (Cadet Ross)
Nicole Nwokolo (FHQ Security Officer)

• Season 5 Premiere.
  
• This episode introduces Captain Rayner. He is commanding officer of the U.S.S. Antares. Rayner is a Kellerun, a species introduced in the DS9 episode "Armageddon Game".
  
• This episode sets up a quest based on technology of the ancient humanoids from the Next Generation episode "The Chase".
  
• Saru is offered a position as Federation Ambassador, to assist the smaller Federation planets.