The episode begins when the trouble-making soldier, Sgt. Spencer, fails to show up for duty. When Greer investigates, he finds Spencer in his quarters, dead from a gunshot wound to the head.
At first CJ thinks it was a suicide, but Greer tells them he found no gun at the scene. When the crew realizes there is a murderer among them, they begin taking measures to seek out the culprit. Rush makes a point that Spencer was not liked by many for stealing food and water in addition to generally causing trouble.
When Young announces the murder to the crew, they all immediately try to claim innocence and provide alibis. Because the weapon is still missing, Young assigns Scott to do a room-by-room search of the Destiny until it is found.
Rush tells Young that he has found new information regarding the ancient chair but Young is more interested in finding the weapon and the murderer.
A twist complicates matters, however, when Eli and Scott find the murder weapon inside a vent in Col. Young’s room.
When Young comes to investigate, he tells them he obviously didn’t put it there and someone is trying to frame him. The team puts together an interrogation board to question the crew about the murder and Young’s possible involvement in it.
Meanwhile, Eli checks the kino footage inside the destiny, but doesn’t come across anything that can help the investigation.
During the questioning, Camile and Chloe argue when Camile seems to unfairly accuse Young of the crime without proper evidence, disregarding due process. Greer agrees with Chloe and says he will stand up for Young but just as he does Young walks into the room. He makes a simple announcement that he made a deal with Camile to step down as commander of the Destiny if she will drop the charges against him. Camile will now be commanding the Destiny.
When Rush gets word that Camile is now in charge, he immediately asks her for control of his science team. She allows him to do so if he will answer directly to her. After agreeing, he takes his team and heads straight for the ancient chair room. The same chair room that Young specifically told Rush was off-limits to experimenting with.
In Young’s quarters, Scott questions Young as to why he stepped down so easily. Young explains that he did so because he was afraid the doubt cast upon him would divide the crew, something that he could not allow. regardless of the recent shift of power, however, Scott tells him that he and the enlisted soldiers will still answer to Young.
While Eli and Dr. Franklin are researching the chair, Franklin asks Eli to go to the mess room and get him some food. When Eli returns, however, he finds that Franklin decided to sit in the chair and is now stuck with bolts of energy being drilled into his temples. The crew tries to release him but cannot. eventually, the chair seems to turn off on its own and releases Franklin, who collapses.
CJ takes him to the medical quarters, but Franlkin is catatonic - totally unresponsive. Camile wants to know what happened so she orders CJ to try and wake him as soon as possible. Things get heated in the hallway when Young blames Rush for the incident, claiming he pressured Franklin into sitting in the chair by saying it was their only chance to get home.
When the Destiny drops out of FTL, Camile sends a team through the gate to a nearby planet to search for supplies. Sgt. Greer confronts her when he finds he was taken off the away team because she thinks he is a suspect in Sgt. Spencer’s murder.
Meanwhile, Eli finds a deleted portion of footage in the kino’s archives from the exact time Sgt. Spencer was killed. The camera pans away, however, and Scott has a look of shock on his face. He tells Col. Young to go to channel two on the walkie.
On the planet, the scavenging team comes across a crashed alien spaceship while exploring the desert. They tell Rush and he immediately suits up to go to the planet. Young stops him however and makes him go watch the kino footage with the others. The footage shows Sgt. Spencer giving a last message then killing himself. It still doesn’t answer who took the kino and the weapon from the room, however. Camile apologizes to Young but he’ll have none of it and decides to join Rush in investigating the spaceship on the planet.
When they arrive, the team tells them the ship is definitely not ancient. Rush tries to open the hatch while Young sends the others back through the gate. After they are gone, Young confronts Rush and tells him he knows it was him who found Spencer first and took the kino from the room. Rush finally comes clean and says he heard the gunshot and was indeed the first one on the scene. He also admits that he framed Young in order to get a shot at using the chair under Camile’s orders.
Alone on the planet now, the two finally square off and Young pummels Rush. Rush doesn’t back down and attacks Young right back but is ultimately knocked unconscious. Young gets back to the gate just in time before it closes and the Destiny goes back into FTL, leaving Rush stranded on the planet. When he gets back he claims that there was a rock slide and Rush didn’t survive. Because he was just exonerated of Sgt. Spencer’s death, the crew believes him without question.
As the episode comes to a close, Rush finally comes back to consciousness on the planet. As he looks to the night sky on the planet, all he can see are the stars…
