In the middle of a hostile armada, the crew makes a desperate attempt to escape while the Vindicator and Diviner prepare to seize the Protostar for themselves.
Tropes:
- Abandon Ship: With the Dauntless taking a beating, Janeway orders her crew to abandon ship.
- Big Damn Kiss: Less on the "Big Damn". Dal follows Gwyn to the armory, trying to stop her from attacking Starfleet officers before they can enter Starfleet Academy. Gwyn tries to tell him that he won't be allowed into Starfleet because of his Augment nature, but he kisses her before she can finish, misreading the situation. Though the two are stunned by the moment, Gwyn doesn't let herself get sidetracked and finishes her thought.
- Call-Back: The security officer guarding Janeway is one of the telepaths she hid from the Devore in "Counterpoint".
- The Cameo: One of the Sovereign-class ships is the Enterprise-E, a nacelle bearing the "NCC-1701-E" registry in a Freeze-Frame Bonus. The Defiant is also visible throughout.
- Canon Immigrant: One of the ships that is in part of the fleet confronting the Protostar is the Sovereign-class USS Sovereign, the prototype of the class and the hero ship of Star Trek: Bridge Commander
- Catch and Return: The Diviner tries to spear the Vindicator with Gwyn's Morph Weapon, but she catches it and throws it into his stomach.
- Chekhov's Skill: Gwyn's omniglot ability comes in handy when the translators go down, as she can speak to everyone in their native languages.
- Cliffhanger: The Living Construct has infected the armada sent to meet the Protostar, and Starfleet vessels continue to ignorantly warp in, responding to automatic distress calls from the infected ships. The crew seemingly have no way to stop the devastation and can only watch helplessly, unable to even flee thanks to battle damage from their initial escape attempt.
- Continuity Nod: Janeway has been medically relieved of command under Starfleet Order 104, Section C, the same one that Spock threatened to use on Commodore Decker to counter his Moby Schtick.
- Curse of Babel: The Living Construct disables the universal translator to hinder coordination between the crews. Gwyn is able to use her omniglot skills to bridge the gap until Holo Janeway repairs the system.
- Deconstructed Trope: The whole "big giant fleet of ships to the rescue" angle that several of the recent series have used is given a much darker twist — the Diviner's plan for the Living Construct to destroy Starfleet counted on their automated distress signals continuing to pull ships in, which then immediately infects them with the virus and will continue to destroy ships until there aren't any ships left in Starfleet.
- Designated Girl Fight: Gwyn and Ascencia fight each other with their telepathically-controlled morph blades.
- Disappears into Light: When the Diviner dies, his body dissolves into light.
- Distress Call:
- When the Living Construct infects the armada, Dal gets the idea to have Janeway call in non-Starfleet allies to shield the infected ships from each other. Thankfully, they answer the call after an impassioned speech from Gwyn.
- Then played for horror when more Starfleet ships show up and are immediately infected. Holo Janeway explains that Starfleet vessels have an automatic SOS system for emergencies, so Starfleet will continue sending ships until all of Starfleet is destroyed.
- Evil Gloating: When Starfleet responds to her hail from the Protostar, the Vindicator takes some time to gloat about how they've doomed themselves.
- Gondor Calls for Aid: When they realize that the Living Construct will only infect Starfleet vessels, the crew of the Protostar send out a call for non-Starfleet ships to assist. After what they assume is a negative answer from a Klingon ship, various ships arrive and do their best to help the overwhelmed fleet.
- Hope Spot: Gwyn convinces the Klingons to relay her message for assistance, resulting in all sorts of non-Starfleet ships acting as meat shields. Then more Starfleet ships show up in response to the automatic SOS sent by the infected ships, and the allied vessels are soon overwhelmed.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: The Diviner is run through by Gwyn's Morph Weapon, after he tries to use it as a spear against the Vindicator and she tosses it back at him.
- Internal Reveal: Dal learns that Starfleet won't accept him because he's an Augment.
- Redemption Equals Death: The Diviner chooses his daughter over the mission, and the Vindicator kills him for it.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: The lights on the Starfleet ships glow red when the Living Construct takes control of them.
- Taking the Bullet: A Klingon bird-of-prey takes a torpedo that would've hit the unshielded Dauntless, and the allied ships in general intercept fire from the infected Starfleet vessels.
- Translation Convention: Gwyn and the Klingon captain speak to each other in Klingon, but the audio renders it in English.
- Villain: Exit, Stage Left: Once her mission is complete, the Vindicator flees the Protostar by using Drednok as an escape pod.
- You Are Too Late: Janeway rushes onto the bridge to stop them from answering the Protostar's hail, but she is a moment too late.
