The Enterprise arrives at a planet called Phadeus, a planet with rings that surround it. Spock takes detailed scans of the planet and reports his findings. It is a class-M planet, and the last survey was done by a Starfleet ship five years prior. The survey reported that a civilization on the planet had entered into a level similar to that of the Roman Empire in Earth's history. Roughly thirty million people live there, and most of the population is concentrated in the southern hemisphere of the planet. Spock notes that it will most likely take a few thousand years before the civilization achieves the technological advances necessary for first contact.