The Life of the Stars

The cadets are still struggling after the Miyazaki attack, so Ake brings in Lt Sylvia Tilly to run a compulsory drama class built around Thornton Wilder's play Our Town. Tarima returns from Betazed with a new inhibitor chip and transfers to Starfleet Academy, but she struggles to cope and almost leaves before Tilly helps her face her pain. Meanwhile SAM's glitches worsen. The Doctor and Ake take her to Kasq, where her Maker declares her beyond repair and ends her existence. The Doctor admits he has kept SAM at a distance because she reminds him of his lost daughter Belle, and of everyone he has outlived. Ake realises the real problem: SAM never had a childhood in which to build resilience to trauma. SAM is remade as a child, and the Doctor stays to raise her for seventeen years in Kasq's accelerated time, two weeks outside, before they return together. The cadets, closer than ever, find purpose in the play.