In 2257 the USS Discovery jumped to the Beta Quadrant and found Terralysium, a colony of humans whose ancestors had been taken from Earth during World War III.
Following another red burst, Discovery used its spore drive to reach a planet far beyond any human settlement. The people there were descendants of humans who had sheltered in a church during the war and had been carried away by a mysterious figure they called the Red Angel.
Captain Pike was bound by the prime directive and kept the truth about their origins from the colony as a whole. Even so, Discovery saved Terralysium from a debris field, and the visit gave the crew vital clues about the Red Angel.