Lorca is captured by L'Rell and held with Harry Mudd and Ash Tyler, while Stamets wires himself into the spore drive to spare the suffering tardigrade.
Starfleet orders Lorca to keep the spore drive out of Klingon hands, but his shuttle is seized by L'Rell's forces. In a Klingon prison he shares a cell with the con man Harry Mudd and Lieutenant Ash Tyler, who has been held for months. Lorca admits he destroyed his previous ship and crew to spare them from capture. He and Tyler escape in a Klingon raider, leaving Mudd behind.
Aboard Discovery, acting captain Saru presses on with jumps even though each one is hurting Ripper. To save the creature, Stamets injects himself with its DNA and connects to the drive personally, and the jump to rescue Lorca works. Burnham releases the tardigrade into space, and in the closing shot Stamets's reflection stays behind after he walks away. Kemp Powers wrote the teleplay and Lee Rose directed.