Fourteen years ago, on Aia, the Grief World, Narissa and Ramdha are part of a group of women led by Oh who take part in the Admonition, a ritual vision sharing that culls the away those unable to survive it to become members of the Zhat Vash. Narissa is the only one to endure the Admonition with her sanity in tact but comforts her Aunt Ramdha who is in crisis but not completely overwhelmed. Oh informs her that they will begin their mission to end synthetic beings on Mars.

In the present day, Ramdha remains in a coma and Narissa talks to her about the progress in the plan to find and destroy the synthetics.

Narissa checks in with her guards about finding Elnor and they've trapped him in Hugh's office. He fights them but is overpowered until Seven arrives.

On La Sirena, Rios has a dramatic reaction to Soji appearance on his ship. He lets Picard know that once they've taken him and Soji to DS12, he's done on this mission.

Raffi arrives and draws a weapon on Soji in case she's another spy like Jurati. Picard debriefs on Jurati with Raffi and the EMH, theorizing about Jurati's involvement in the Tal Shiar.

Picard reports to Clancy and she agrees to send a squadron to meet him at DS12.

Raffi has a talk with the ship's ENH, Enoch, about Soji (whom he identifies as "Jana") and about the doodle she saw the disordered Romulans drawing. He identifies the doodle as an octanary, a star system with eight star components, described only in ancient Romulan star charts. He also tells Raffi that Rios has locked himself in his quarters and activated all the ship's holo crew.

Narissa investigates the scene of Elnor's fight and finds the Fenris beacon tag.

Seven activates the Queen's Cell and begins repairing the Cube.

Narissa orders all the Borgs in stasis to be jettisoned into space. Meanwhile, she executes every exB she can find.

Soji and Picard are sharing a meal and discuss Data.

Raffi runs into the Engineering holo, Ian, and asks about the chances of an octanary system happening naturally. She figures out that building one was a way to get attention and leave a warning.

When Raffi discusses Rios' condition with the Hospitality holo, he indicates she should go talk to him as he is in need of a confidante.

Rios is drunk in his cabin, looking through old drawings and items from his previous Starfleet commission, the USS Ibn Majid.

On The Artifact, Seven theorizes that she could deploy the Borg currently in stasis but balks at the idea of assimilating them again.

Raffi holds a meeting with all of Rios' holo crew. They contribute what they know and she's able to deduce it all has something to do with his time on the Ibn Majid.

Jurati wakes up to find Picard with her and he informs her that they are headed to DS12 and she will surrender herself there for the murder of Bruce Maddox. She tells him about the vision Oh shared with her and warns him about the danger of synthetic life. Soji joins them and interprets the vision in terms of Romulan mythology about Seb-Cheneb, The Destroyer.

Raffi enters Rios' quarters and gets him a cup of coffee. They discuss the Ibn Majid and Captain Alonzo Vandermeer. Rios discloses that Vandermeer killed two ambassador envoys, one who looked exactly like Soji on the orders of Starfleet security. When Rios questioned his actions, the captain killed himself.

Jurati questions Soji about herself, marvelling at her. Soji questions whether she is a real person.

As Narissa kills exBs, Elnor notices the Borg life signs disappearing and Seven makes her decision to wake the ones in stasis by creating a cube Collective. Just as she connects to them all, Narissa orders the Borg jettisoned into space.

Jurati and Soji join Picard, Raffi, and Rios to discuss the situation. Jurati apologizes for being a murderer.

Raffi summarizes everything they know and conclude that Maddox created a world of synth life. Soji, realizing her memories have led the Zhat Vash to her homeworld and her family, reacts and reroutes La Sirena to a short-cut to the homeworld.

The Romulan fleet arrives at The Artifact and Narissa is preparing to leave when she is attacked by exBs. She escapes by transporting away. The fleet leaves and Seven disconnects from the Collective she's created.

As La Sirena approaches the transwarp conduit, Rios and Picard discuss the pros and cons of a world with synthetic life. When they arrive, Rios takes them through and a cloaked Romulan scout ship decloaks and follows them in.