Reflections

Ransom sends Boimler and Mariner to run a Starfleet recruitment booth at a job fair on Tulgana IV, warning Mariner to behave. Aboard ship, Rutherford's cybernetic implant malfunctions and releases a long-buried personality: “Red” Rutherford, a brash younger Sam from his early Starfleet days who secretly built illicit racing ships. Inside Sam's mind, the two compete for control of his body in a race through the Romulan Neutral Zone. At the fair, the Starfleet booth is mocked by rival exhibitors, among them Petra Aberdeen, a condescending archaeologist who once served in Starfleet. Boimler finally snaps and launches into an impassioned defence of Starfleet, which accidentally wins enough recruits to meet their quota. Sam wins the race, and the defeated Red reveals what really happened: an experimental engine he built exploded, badly injuring him, and unknown Starfleet officials fitted the implant and wiped his memories. Before the fair ends, Petra offers Mariner work outside Starfleet.