The Brunel is held back at Cestus III while Starfleet decides whether to repair or decomission it. M'Kress fails to convince Starfleet to give New Lhasa the Brunel's photon torpedoe tubes. (The treaty with the Tholians stops the UFP from sending a heavily armed ship anywhere in the New Lhasa sector other than the New Lhasa system itself.) O'Reilley fails to convince Starfleet to quickly replace the Brunel. Meanwhile, the Koloth is under repair and Kath'lar returns to New Lhasa without it, and Ashok is trapped on Terok Nor by the occupying forces.
One of the undersea predators (Ebb and Flow) is discovered heading for the harbour where the aquashuttle base on the polar continent. It emerges from the water and damages the aquashuttle before the Pinkerton (a Hammurabi-class planetary security ship) stuns it. Veltr'a requests assistance from Kath'lar, who arrives with a dozen Klingons in various states of intoxication. There is debate between M'Kress, Veltr'a and planetary security themselves over whether and how best to legally remove the Klingons from the area. This is made more urgent by the surfacing or large airborne creatures, and the approach of a much larger predator. Meanwhile, the politicians argue: O'Reilley claims there is no danger, and Heart urges the detruction of the larger creature.
M'Kress tries to lure the small predator out to sea using an aquatic probe that imitates the sound of one of the deepwhales. Once the force field is taken down, the smaller predator attacks the aquashuttle again. Loras Veltr'a opens fire on it, only to be crushed by its foot. Kath'lar opens fire (stinging it) and the Pinkerton stuns it again.
After Loras Veltr'a is removed to hospital and the larger creature is a mere twenty minutes away, they try again using the Aquashuttle as bait, towing it out to sea with a tractor beam. They guess right, with it attracting both creatures.
After some debate, Kath'lar is cautioned for opening fire and Loras Veltr'a is reprimanded for inviting the Klingons along in the first place.

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