The crew of the newly relaunched USS Columbia, NCC-85279, spent some time getting to know each other, and then reported to a mission briefing. There, they discovered that they would be heading into Romulan space to investigate a desolated planet: Avronis V, which is being used as a dumping site for spent antimatter. This was the apparent destination of a mysterious Romulan, whose shuttle, destroyed in an uncanny manner, has been found in Federation Space.

In preparation for their mission, Dr Corbin put in place an inoculation program to protect those who may have to visit the planet; and Cmdr Brice ran a piloted simulation to check that the modified shuttle his team prepared is adapted to the effects of the theta radiation found on Avronis V.

Meanwhile on the Bridge, there was a period of uncertainty as crewman Ames discovered that one of their sensors wasn’t working properly. Fortunately the problem turned out to be due to human error and had nothing to do with sabotage.

As the Columbia finally approached its destination, the crew discovered that the area wasn’t as isolated as they had expected. There is a Romulan base on Avronis’s moon, and a Rigelian Freighter is on its way to Avronis V.