'Star Trek: Discovery': "The War Without, The War Within" Recap with Spoilers

Saru is startled to find Georgiou in Discovery's transporter bay. She is equally shocked to find a Kelpian as captain. Saru has Georgiou confined to quarter and her existence kept classified.

Saru tells Burnham that Federation ships appear on long-range sensors but are not responding to hails. Saru brings Burnham up to speed on what transpired with Tyler, explaining that L'Rell performed the procedure to remove his Klingon personality. Saru hopes Burnham's face encourages Tyler to heal and become human. Burnham can't bring herself to see him.

He wakes and shows only signs of being Ash Tyler. There are no outward signs of being Klingon, but there's still much they don't know. Tyler says he can access Voq's memories, but they are separated now, like remembering someone else's life. Tyler explains that Voq was the test case for this reassignment surgery. Tyler remembers that Voq and L'Rell planned to take Discovery to inspire followers to return to T'Kuvma's cause. He's grateful to hear that Burnham is okay. Remembering his assault of Burnham and the murder of Dr. Culber and says he deserves to be put in the brig. Saru blames only Voq for those acts. Tyler will be monitored and his access restricted, but he will not be imprisoned.

Another ship arrives within range of Discovery. A boarding party beams onto the Discovery. Its a group of Federation races. Once they've taken control of the ship, Admiral Cornwell and Sarek beam onboard as well. Cornwell takes control of the ship. Sarek mind-melds with Saru to confirm his identity. He confirms that Lorca is dead.

Cornwell curses Mirror Lorca and concludes that her Lorca must be dead. The Terran Discovery was destroyed by the Klingons when it arrived in the prime timeline. Now that Discovery is back, Starfleet is disseminating the invisibility shield decryption codes to the front lines, but it may be too late. A third of Starfleet has been destroyed. In the absence of a clear leader, the 24 great Klingon Houses are competing with each other for conquest. Cornwell wants Discovery to jump to Starbase 1. All records from the trip to the mirror universe will be destroyed. It would be too tempting for those who have lost loved ones in the war to try to travel to the mirror universe and see the dead again. Stamets informs Cornwell that all of the spores were used in their final jump, and so they'll have to make the trip to Starbase 1 at warp.

Burnham introduces Cornwell and Sarek to Emperor Georgiou. Georgiou wants to be sent home. Burnham wants Federation to grant her political asylum. For now, she'll be a guest on Discovery until they arrive at Starbase 1. They don't know how to send her home anyway, and for the time being, Starfleet is busy fighting a war.

Tyler encounters Stamets in the hall. Tyler apologizes to Stamets for what happened to Culber. Stamets says as long as Tyler feels terrible for what happened, he may still be human after all.

Tyler gets a lot of stares when he enters the mess hall. He sits alone, but Tilly quickly joins him. Soon other members of the crew join them as well.

Discovery comes within range of Starbase 1. Saru's threat ganglia flares. They find the Klingons have already taken control of the Starbase. There are no signs of Federation life on board. Saru orders the ship to retreat before it is scanned.

Cornwell curses Mirror Lorca and concludes that her Lorca must be dead. The Terran Discovery was destroyed by the Klingons when it arrived in the prime timeline. Now that Discovery is back, Starfleet is disseminating the invisibility shield decryption codes to the front lines, but it may be too late. A third of Starfleet has been destroyed. In the absence of a clear leader, the 24 great Klingon Houses are competing with each other for conquest. Cornwell wants Discovery to jump to Starbase 1. All records for the trip to the mirror universe will be destroyed. It would be too tempting for those who have lost loved ones in the war to try to travel to the mirror universe and see the dead again. Stamets informs Cornwell that all of the spores were used in their final jump, and so they'll have to make the trip to Starbase 1 at warp.

Tyler gets a lot of stares when he enters the mess hall. He sits alone, but Tilly quickly joins him. Soon other members of the crew join them as well.

Discovery comes within range of Starbase 1. Saru's threat ganglia flares. They find the Klingons have already taken control of the Starbase. There are no Federation life signs on board. Saru orders the ship to retreat before it is scanned.

Cornwell visits L'Rell in the brig. She tells L'Rell that the Klingons are winning the war, but that the Empire is still fractured. The Klingons are coming closer to Earth. She asks how the war ends. L'Rel says it doesn't. They must conquer the Klingons or they will never relent.

Burnham visits Georgiou on Discovery. Georgiou asks about Burnham's relationship to Sarek. Burnham tells her Sarek is essentially her father. Burnham asks Georgiou how she defeated the Klingon Empire. She suggests setting sites on Qo'noS.

Cornwell brings the idea of a single, powerful offensive on the Klingon homeworld. The others are currently planning on defending Earth. Sarek suggests typical Starfleet tactics have failed, so they must try something else.

Burnham hatches a plan to jump the Discovery into the subterranean caves beneath the crust of Qo'noS. They'll need more spores, so Stamets sends them to a lifeless moon where he will use the last of his spores' strain to hatch a new crop.

Georgiou calls Sarek to discuss Burnham and their current plan and what is necessary. She wants to bring the Klingons to their knees once and for all. She asks for her freedom in return.

Sarek tells Burnham that he must return to Vulcan to take care of some "evolving details" about the plan. They discuss Burnham's choices, including her love for Tyler and her being motivated or by her emotions. He encourages her, reminding her that she is human like her mother. He tells her not to regret loving someone.

Tilly loads up the mycelial network. Burnham is worried that she just said goodbye to Sarek for the last time. Tilly encourages Burnham to go see Tyler.

Stamets seeds the lifeless moon his spores and begins the terraforming process. The process takes hold. And new spores begin to generate.

Burnham visits Tyler. He apologizes to her and tells her Voq is gone. She asks if there was ever really an Ash Tyler who loved her. She says he lied to her. He said if it got to be too much he'd come to her and he didn't. He accuses her of looking for an excuse to end this. She says she knows she's not responsible for Voq's actions, but she can only see him as he was when he wanted to kill her. Tyler says she's the reason that L'Rell wasn't able to fully activate Voq's personality. She tells him that he needs to recover from what he did on his own and that it won't be easy.

Cornwell and Sarek communicate in her office and agree that this is what they must do. Cornwell makes a shipwide speech. She tells the crew about the mission to the Qo'noS and introduces "Captain Georgiou," who they claim was just recently rescued from the Klingons, will lead the mission.