The planet Kirlos - an artificial world, now home to many races from both the Federation and the K'Vin Hegemony, who have enjoyed years of peaceful co-existence and profitable trade. The planet holds a wealth of undiscovered archaeological treasures, which the Enterprise and its crew are dispatched to help uncover. Sent to the surface to assist an archaeological team, Geordi, Data and Worf are imprisoned, relations between the K'Vin and the Federation begin to crumble, and Kirlos' ancient underground machinery awakens from a centuries-long dormancy, primed to release the most powerful destructive force ever known.