As the Destiny’s CO2 scrubbers are running low are running low on lime and the ship comes out of FTL, the crew looks for suitable planets to replenish their stock. Out of two gates in range only one is active and looks promising. As they prepare a team to go to the planet, 6 drones appear. Greer manages to take out the drones, but Park states that they will not be able to fight off an entire armada, and they cannot jump for another two hours. Young meets with Rush in the control interface, curious as to how the drones have followed them. Rush isn’t sure. Young suggests the inactive drone as the cause, and though Eli insists it to be dormant, he orders it jettisoned just in case. The drone is jettisoned out of the third, unused docking bay. A shot from the turrets destroys it but there is a control ship which will reach them in an hour.
As Matthew Scott & Greer leads the small team through the gate and to the planet, they spot two teenage human gatherers and get a big surprise to hear them speak back to the team in English. The boy & girl Jason & Ellie, recognize Scott and Greer, proclaiming them to be their ancestors; they claim to have descended from Destiny’s crew, who founded a civilization 2000 years ago. Young holds a meeting with Rush, TJ, Eli, Chloe, and Wray, wondering how this could have happened, and Eli realizes that it must have been the duplicate crew created when they attempted to dial Earth from within a star. Since there was no Destiny to receive them that far back, they went to a nearby gate instead. They were stranded on this planet, which they called Novus, and settled there, creating an entire civilization from the small group of Destiny’s crew. The planet on which the crew finds Jason & Ellie is a settlement, one of several on various worlds, which they made while looking for viable colony sites. They have been unable to dial Novus for a long time, decades at least, and cannot dial anywhere else.
Destiny’s crew meets with the settlement’s leader Yazou, which was also Camille’s grandfather’s name, and he invites them to have tea in one of the tents. As the crew is informed the colony only numbers about 100 people, but Novus has millions and advanced technology. The colony teams were sent out due to a natural disaster on their homeworld, but Novus has been out of contact for 30 years. In addition to the natural disaster, political tensions were rising between the two dominant countries: Tenera and Futura. The Tenerans, from who this colony is descended, followed the writings in the testament, written by some of the crew. Tenera loosely translates as “Land of Young”. The Futurans, in turn, worshiped Rush, having come to believe he was still on Destiny and would rescue them. Volker thinks the name is stupid, though Brody disagrees. Eli reveals that Brody was the one to invent it.
Through video archives they find that TJ had a baby with Young, the first to be born on the planet. Eli is shown as an older man, having had a child of his own and appreciating what they have on Novus. An elderly Young is shown, speakingof a group wishing to break off, presumably the start of the two countries that would eventually form. MeanwhileAs the crew get plenty of supplies from the settlement, Yaozu has something more to ask. He would like Destiny to transport the colony back to Novus. They are unable to sustain themselves without support from Novus, and thus need a way back home. oung isn’t convinced they could transport that many people, but Eli believes it would be possible. The trip would take a week and it would drain most of their lime reserves, leaving them right back where they started, but they’d make it. Young says no and Eli, Wray, Scott, and Greer return to the planet to inform Yaozu of the decision.
They say that they will stop by Novus and see if the gate can be repaired. However as drones suddenly appear and attack the settlement, Young allows the plea to bring all the colony onboard. Most of the people go through the gate but a drone shoots at the ring, destroying part of it, which strands a small group of humans including Eli, Wray, Scott & Greer. They have to wait the night out before a shuttle is sent to retrieve them and Destiny heads for Novous. As Rush complains that all the lime might be used up, a few of the colonists ask for permission to stay aboard Destiny. Jason, Ellie, Yaozu, Greer, and Wray have joined the shuttle mission. As they approach Novus, Scott can detect no radio signals. As the come in closer they see evidence of a nuclear winter and then an intact but abandoned city. There is no radiation, no detectable power signatures, and no signs of life. Rush clarifies Park’s assessment to a volcanic winter, likely the result of a supervolcano. Scott makes a lower pass, but there is no sign that anyone has lived there for a long time.