Old Friends, New Planets

Nick Locarno announces that he has built a fleet of mutinous lower deckers and threatens to use a Genesis Device unless his fleet is recognised. He kidnapped Mariner because he thought her frustration with Starfleet would make her a natural ally. Instead she warns his followers not to trust him, steals the Genesis Device and flees. Defying Starfleet's orders, Freeman sets out to rescue her using an Orion battleship provided by D'Erika, on condition that Tendi return to Orion. With Boimler as acting captain, the Cerritos uses its tractor beam to ram the battleship through Locarno's shields. Mariner arms the device and begs Locarno to let go of his bitterness over his expulsion from the Academy, but he refuses. Freeman beams Mariner away, Locarno cannot stop the countdown, and the blast creates a new planet, which Starfleet names Locarno. Mariner opens up to her friends, T'Lyn chooses to stay, and Tendi leaves for Orion.