A malfunction turns Rutherford's holographic assistant Badgey homicidal, while Mariner and Boimler hunt for a missing shield core during a standoff with Drookmani scavengers.
The Cerritos faces off against Drookmani scavengers over the salvage of an old Starfleet ship. Ensign Fletcher offers to finish recalibrating the isolinear cores so Mariner and Boimler can leave early for a concert, but when they return Fletcher has apparently been attacked and the shield core is missing.
In the holodeck, Rutherford shows Tendi Badgey, a holographic assistant shaped like a Starfleet badge, and a malfunction during the Drookmani attack turns the program murderous until the pair freeze him by changing the setting to a tundra. Fletcher turns out to have staged the attack to hide his unfinished work. The rogue core is ejected and disables the Drookmani ship, and Fletcher is rewarded with a transfer to the USS Titan, from which he is fired a week later.