WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Star Trek: Discovery Season 3, Episode 5, "Die Trying," now streaming on CBS All Access.

"When we find the Federation." It's been a credo of the U.S.S. Discovery's crew as they get adjusted to their new surroundings nearly a millennium into the future. But that fantasy has become a reality, as the most recent episode of the CBS All Access series has the main characters finally coming face-to-face with the Federation -- or what's left of it.

The excited anxiety is palpable from the jump, as Captain Saru (Doug Jones) and his number one Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) discuss what's to come. While Saru looks forward to finally finding "home," Michael is thinking about home in a different capacity, eager to ask Starfleet about the whereabouts of her mother. It seems that, though her efforts during her year in the 32nd century were largely dedicated to finding the ship, she kept her time-traveling mom on her mind.

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The crew arrives at Federation headquarters, an impressive and camouflaged hub that hosts a bevy of ships. Everyone gawks at the vessels and technology that surround them, including a flying rainforest and the eleventh iteration of the U.S.S. Voyager. Starfleet has asked to meet with Saru, Michael and Adira (Blu Del Barrio), who hosts the Trill symbiont of prior host Admiral Senna Tal. As they beam out, the crew marvels in wonder at what surrounds them, and it seems they're put at ease for the first time in this time period.

The same cannot be said of the trio, though, once they enter HQ and encounter Admiral Vance (Oded Fahr). Though Vance offers some welcoming news --including that Saru's home planet has been inducted into the Federation -- his delivery is cold. It's clear he has no trust in the new arrivals, despite their Starfleet insignia. Skeptical of their time-traveling story, he orders that Discovery be given to the Federation, and its crew split up. And while Michael vehemently protests, Saru is adamant to go by the book and follow the admiral's orders to the letter.

What follows is a highly entertaining montage of Starfleet's various holo-interrogators questioning the crew on everything they've gone through the past two seasons. The toughest nut to crack is Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh), whose obstinance causes her A.I. opposition to break. But in their stead steps a mysterious man played by legendary director David Cronenberg. As the two exchange witty repartee, he reveals his long-held obsession with the Terran people, obsessed with their "because I feel like it" motto. And despite Georgiou's confidence air, Cronenberg brings a hammer to it when he reveals that the Prime and Mirror universes have been drifting apart for centuries, meaning the former emperor is the last of her kind.

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Meanwhile, Starfleet is facing its own crisis, as a species of refugees are afflicted with a mysterious and incurable illness. Seeing an opportunity to prove Discovery's worth, Michael volunteers the ship for a mission to save the day. The crew would go to the Tikhov, a ship used to archive plant life from around the galaxy. There, they would get seeds from the refugees' planet before bouts of radiation infected everything. Those seeds would allow them to make an antidote and save countless lives. Vance begrudgingly agrees but makes Saru stay behind as collateral, leaving Michael to command this high-stakes away mission.

Their task becomes a bit harder when they find the Tikhov is caught in an ion storm. They're able to grab the ship thanks to the skills of Detmer (Emily Coutts), though her self-deprecation afterward seems to indicate her shaky mental health issues from previous episodes continue. Michael chooses to take Culber (Wilson Cruz), as well as a surprising choice in Nhan (Rachael Ancheril). The Tikhov was last inhabited by a Barzan family, making the security officer of great use, even though she has not seen any of her kind since joining Starfleet.

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The three find the Tikhov overgrown with plant life. The atmosphere allows Nhan to let her hair down, and she's struck by a hologram of the previous occupants playing together. She remarks to Culber that the Barzans are known for diligence and poverty and that her family was devastated when they found out she would be joining Starfleet. But as she checks the log of patriarch Dr. Attis (Jake Epstein), they realize things on the Tikhov are much less homey than it seems.

Culber finds Attis' family, cryogenically kept but dead. Using the crack Discovery engineering team, they're able to figure out that the Tikhov was hit by essentially a "star burp," a blast of star power that killed everyone instantly. Attis survived, having tried to beam into the seed vault at the time, but is now living out of phase. He initially fought off Michael, extremely protective of the seeds he finds essential to his fruitless mission of bringing his family back. But as the crew is able to bring him back to normal, he starts to come to terms with his reality.

Nhan and Michael do the good officer/bad officer routine on Attis, which eventually convinces him to give up the seeds and help save countless other families in spite of his own. However, he refuses to leave the ship, despite him being days away from death with the radiation he received. While Culber is beside himself, the situation opens up an opportunity for Nhan. She volunteers to stay behind and man the Tikhov, taking it back to Barzan so she can give Attis and his family a proper burial. She and Michael tearfully embrace, as she commends the commander for finding the best in herself and others. As she and the Discovery leave, Nhan looks out at them, ending one chapter and beginning another that has her finally reconnecting with her species.

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Michael debriefs with Saru and Vance, with the antidote from the seeds having saved the refugees. The captain makes a metaphor to the painter Giotto, hoping that Discovery's presence can serve as a change in perspective for a Federation that's putting out multiple fires every day. And despite the admiral now trusting in the crew, there remain some open-ended matters. A mysterious melody exists that both Adira and the Barzan family know, a connecter in a world where there is none. And Georgiou seems off in a world on her own when Michael finds her later, meaning the Terran could have a change in attitude about her situation.

The episode closes the way it opens, with Saru and Michael both looking out a window. Things don't feel like home yet, for either the crew or the audience, but whether it's 2258 or 3189, the Federation has lived on through its people. And whether those people are stationed in disguised headquarters or helming a ship full of seeds, that perspective will withstand any odds.

Streaming on CBS All Access, Star Trek: Discovery stars Sonequa Martin-Green as Commander Michael Burnham, Doug Jones as Commander Saru, Anthony Rapp as Lt. Commander Paul Stamets, Mary Wiseman as Ensign Sylvia Tilly, Wilson Cruz as Dr. Hugh Culber, David Ajala as Cleveland "Book" Booker, Blu del Barrio as Adira, Ian Alexander as Gray, Tig Notaro as Chief Engineer Reno and Michelle Yeoh as Philippa Georgiou. New episodes of Season 3 air on Thursdays.

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