Overview of Season 4 of Star Trek: The Next Generation
The Best of Both Worlds (Part II)
The deflector dish discharge has no effect on the Borg cube. It is revealed that using Picard’s knowledge, the Borg prepared for the attack. The cube continues towards Earth, but the damaged Enterprise is unable to pursue. Reporting to Hanson, Riker is given the field promotion to Captain, and makes Shelby his first officer. A fleet of starships masses at Wolf 359 to fight the Borg, but all are destroyed. The Enterprise pursues the cube and tries to negotiate with Locutus, to no avail. The communication, however, does reveal Locutus’ location within the cube. Data and Kelly mount a mission to abduct Locutus. While the mission is a success, Locutus is still connected to the hive mind. Data interfaces with the Collective, and sends a sleep command to the cube, following hints from Picard, who is breaking free from the Collective. The cube deactivates, and an energetic feedback loop builds, destroying the cube. While the Enterprise is repaired in a shipyard, the crew is granted shore leave to Earth, directly leading into the events of the following episode.
Family
While the Enterprise is undergoing repairs at Earth Spacedock, three crew members reunite with family. Worf meets with his adoptive parents, Sergey and Helena Rozhenko, who have only just heard of his discommendation. While to begin with their support embarrasses Worf, he comes to embrace it, appreciating their concern. Leslie Crusher is visited by her paternal grandparents, who give her a box containing many of her deceased father’s mementos. Inside is a holo-recording from her father shortly after her birth. Although she has only just come to terms with her father’s death, she is encouraged by the message. Captain Picard visits his family vineyard in France, though he clashes with his brother. While contemplating leaving Starfleet, he and his brother fight in the vineyard, resulting in Picard admitting how powerless he felt at the hands of the Borg, and the guilt he feels for the things that were done using his knowledge. He and his brother reconcile over some wine, and Picard resolves to stay in Starfleet for the time being.
Reconstruction
As the repairs and refits on the Enterprise are finished, Riker is asked to report to Starfleet Headquarters. Following the Borg attack, Starfleet is in a somewhat weakened state and there are talks of decentralising the Federation, so that any future decapitation strike would not leave the entire Federation without an administrative centre. Riker is offered a position as the head of a new anti-Borg taskforce, wherein he will help to design new ships to combat the Borg threat and develop tactics to counteract the Borg. If he were to take this role, his promotion to Captain would be made permanent. Starfleet, having lost a large amount of well-seasoned officers, are eager to split the Enterprise crew up to compensate. Riker tries to convince the Admiralty that the successes of the Enterprise are down to the crew’s dynamic as much as the crew’s individual abilities, but they remain stubborn until Commander Shelby backs him up. Riker declines the offer to lead the taskforce, and Shelby is offered the role instead. Riker and Shelby depart amicably, hoping to work together again.
Brothers
While escorting a boy to the Sickbay to see his sick brother, Data discretely activates a life support alarm, triggering an evacuation of the Bridge. Data returns to the Bridge, and Picard orders him to transfer controls to Engineering, but Data instead mimics Picard and locks the controls to the Bridge, directing the ship towards an unknown planet. In Engineering, the crew discovers Data’s lockout, and disable the ship’s site-to-site transporters, making it more difficult for Data to move around the ship. Upon arriving at the planet, Data uses a series of force fields to give himself a clear path to a transporter room, beaming down to the planet. While the crew try to override the lockout, Data arrives on the planet, finding his creator Dr Noonien Soong. Soong reveals that he used a recall function to bring Data here, and both that he is dying and that he has created an emotion chip to allow Data to feel emotion. However, Lore arrives, shocking Soong, recalled by the same function. Soong reveals the chip is only meant for Data, but when he goes to put it in, it is revealed that Lore has been able to discretely deactivate Data and change clothes. Lore leaves with the emotion chip. With Soong’s help, the override is deactivated, and while Data apologises that he will be unable to grieve for Soong, Soong replies that he is sure that Data will find his own way.
The Empath
The Enterprise is tasked with mapping a dangerous region of space. While mapping, they are contacted by the Yarani, an alien species endemic to the region, who communicate only telepathically. However, none of the crew are able to communicate, as the universal translator does not work telepathically, and Troi cannot understand them. Geordi, however, with his VISOR, is able to alter the translator so that he can communicate. The aliens prove to be highly emotional, which overwhelms Geordi. He goes to Counsellor Troi for help, and she helps him to deal with the emotional overload. The Yarani offer to help the Enterprise through the space, and the mapping is completed.
Suddenly Human
The Enterprise responds to a distress call from a Talarian vessel, rescuing five teenagers, one of whom is named Jono, who is found to be human. While Jono mainly keeps to himself, he shows strict obedience to Captain Picard. Some injuries on Jono’s body lead Dr Henderson to suspect that he may have been abused. Jono’s birth name is found to be Jeremiah Rossa, the grandson of a Starfleet Admiral, whose parents were killed in a Talarian raid some ten years prior. Jono’s adoptive father, Endar, arrives, requesting the return of his son, but the matter has now been complicated by Admiral Rossa requesting custody of Jono. Jono reveals that he wants to stay with Endar, but there are concerns that he may be too scared to say that he wants to stay in the Federation. Jono and Leslie bond, and the crew believe that they are making progress when Jono plays a game of raquetball against Picard. However, that night, Jono sneaks into the Captain’s quarters and stabs him. While Picard’s injury is minor, Jono has now committed a Federation crime, complicating the matter further. Endar calls for reinforcements, threatening to start a war with the Federation. Picard comes to the realisation that he and the crew have been imposing their wishes on Jono, and returns Jono to Endar. Picard sends an apology to Admiral Rossa, but stnads by his decision to let Jono choose his own fate.
The Dreamscape
While charting a nebula, the crew finds small inconsistencies in the ship, certain items are not where they should be, rooms appear to be swapped around. When nobody appears to be able to explain the changes, and no mentions are made in logs, the crew tries to contact Starfleet, but are unable to get a response. The ship appears to be stranded, with no help. To try to find a reason as to why, they go back through the most recent logs, taking note in their interactions with a scientist who was developing a technology to create highly realistic dreams, as a low-power alternative to the holodeck. Dr. Henderson recalls meeting with the scientist, named Annar, and taking a prototype to investigate. The crew comes to the realisation that they are currently trapped in a collective dream, and must determine who is dreaming. To solve this, they try to find the areas with the most inconsistencies, as the dreamer will have had the least interaction with those areas. Through this, they determine that the dreamer is Troi, and that her low-level telepathic abilities from her Betazoid heritage have caused the entire crew to fall asleep into this shared dream. They manage to wake her up by giving her an adrenaline injection in the dream, causing her adrenal gland to activate in the real world, waking her. As Troi wakes, the others are freed and also wake. They find themselves still in orbit of the planet that Annar lives on, and warn him of the possible side effects of the technology.
Legacy
The Enterprise receives a distress call from the freighter
Arcos, which has taken an emergency orbit around Terkana IV, the birthplace of the late security officer Tasha Yar. As the Enterprise arrives, the
Arcos explodes, though an escape pod is launched towards the planet. The government on the planet collapsed some fifteen years prior, and the warring factions have warned the Federation that anybody trespassing on the planet would be executed. As the freighter’s crew’s lives are in danger, Picard orders an away team to try to retrieve them. Upon arriving on the planet, Riker’s team meets with the leader of one of the two remaining factions, the Coalition. He reveals that the other faction, the Alliance, is holding the freighter crew hostage. He offers an alliance for weapons, which Riker refuses, but learning of Tasha’s service on the Enterprise, the leader, Hayne, sends a liason, Ishara Yar, Tasha’s sister. Ishara works with the crew to find the freighter crew, becoming particularly friendly with Data. Geordi suggests using the pod’s instruments, though Ishara beams to a different location to avoid setting of a proximity alarm. When the Alliance threatens to kill the crew, the away team agree to a proposed rescue plan. However, Data finds Ishara trying to disable the Alliance’s sensor net, revealing a large Coalition force just outside of it, ready to attack. He determines that her cooperation was a ploy to gain control of the planet. Data and Riker manage to stop Ishara, but Picard chooses to leave her on the planet, rather than take her in as a criminal for trying to attack two Starfleet officers. As Ishara is beamed back to the planet, Data considers his friendships with both Tasha and Ishara.
Generations
The Enterprise arrives at a genetic research station to drop off supplies. One of the lead researchers at the station is Dr. Amelia Henderson’s wife, Dr. Sarah Marques. While at the station, Leslie Crusher is visited by her maternal grandparents, though finds them to be very judgemental of her career choice. Dr. Marques is working on a project that aims to allow same-sex couples to have children, through the use of stem cells. Genetic research is highly controversial in the Federation, as a result of Khan Noonien Singh and other genetically enhanced individuals. As a result, Henderson and her wife clash over the ethics of the project, even though it would allow for them to have biological children. Leslie meets with Counsellor Troi to get some advice on dealing with her grandparents, and Troi suggests that “Often, the family we choose is more important than the one we are born into”, reflecting on her relationship with her mother. As the Enterprise prepares to depart, Dr. Henderson admits to her wife that she understands why she is leading the project, but warns her to keep the project out of the wrong hands.
Data’s Day
While commanding the night shift on the Enterprise, Data records a message for Commander Maddox, detailing events occurring within his life. He mentions his involvement in the upcoming wedding between Transporter Chief O’Brien and botanist Keiko Ishikawa, where he has been asked to give the bride away. When Data visits Keiko however, she tells him that she wants to call the wedding off, that that would make her happier. Data relays this information to O’Brien, as he thinks that O’Brien will want for Keiko to be as happy as possible. Data also discusses the upcimung secret meeting between Vulcan ambassador T’Pel and a Romulan vessel, where he is to be T’Pel’s liaison. Data asks Dr. Henderson to teach him how to dance, having found that she won many dance competitions while in the Academy. She agrees, on the condition that Data tell nobody else in the crew. Data picks up tap easily, but struggles with ballroom dance. While acting as the liaison, Data finds that T’Pel is acting increasingly suspicious, culminating with her apparent death upon her transportation to the Romulan vessel. When he finds no issue with the transporter, he comes to the conclusion that T’Pel is alive and that the Romulans have faked her death. The Enterprise moves to intercept the Romulan vessel, arriving at the Neutral Zone. There they meet Romulan Admiral Mendak, who reveals that T’Pel is a spy, but the Enterprise is soon forced to retreat by the arrival of more Romulan vessels. The wedding between Keiko and Miles goes ahead, and Data notes that while there are many emotions that he cannot understand, he does understand love and belonging.
Future Imperfect
Riker’s birthday celebrations are interrupted when he, Kelly and La Forge are sent to a cave on the planet that they are orbiting, to investigate some strange readings. Upon their arrival, the cave fills with a gas that knocks the three unconscious. When he awakens, Riker finds that sixteen years have passed, he is now the Captain of the Enterprise, he has a son, and that Picard has become an Admiral. Riker has no memory of the interim period, which is explained by Dr. Henderson as the side effect of a virus he recently contracted. Riker starts to notice some inconsistencies, the computer is slow, there are minor technical glitches which Geordi is unable to rectify. He discovers that his “wife” is Minuet, a fictional holodeck character he fell in love with previously. He confronts Picard and “Ambassador” Tomalak, where Tomalak reveals that this has been a ruse to get Riker to reveal sensitive information. He is taken to a holding cell, where he meets the inspiration for his son, a boy named Ethan. He and Ethan manage to escape, but when Ethan refers to Tomalak as Amabassador, Riker realises that this is still a simulation. Ethan is revealed to be really Baresh, a grey insectoid alien that simply yearned for companionship. Realising that Baresh’s intentions were not hostile, Riker offers him asylum on the Enterprise, which Baresh takes.
Reunion
The Enterprise meets with K’Ehleyr, who requests to speak with Captain Picard urgently. She brings with her a young boy, whom Worf suspects to be his son. K’Ehleyr warns of a power struggle in the Klingon Empire, as Chancellor K’mpec is dying, and there are two main contenders. K’mpec reveals that he has been poisines and urges Picard to become the Arbiter of Succession, and to find K’mpec’s assassin. K’Ehleyr reveals to Worf that the boy is his son, Alexander, but that she was afraid to tell him for fear that Worf would want a closer relationship. The two contenders, Gowron and Duras, arrive for the Rites of Succession. During the Rites, a bomb explodes in the hall while both Gowron and Duras attempt to end the proceedings quickly. Picard and K’Ehleyr, both unharmed, decide to draw out the Rites using an archaic method so that the Enterprise con conduct a forensic analysis. K’Ehleyr reads up on Duras and finds that he faked the evidence to implicate Worf’s father as a traitor, but Duras mortally wounds her before she can tell anybody. Meanwhile, the team on the Enterprise finds that the bomb came from one of Duras’ guards. Worf finds K’Ehleyr dying, where she tells him that Duras attacked her, and transports down with a bat’leth, leaving his combadge behind. When he arrives at the hall, he challenges Duras to the Right of Vengeance. Duras begrudgingly agrees, but is bested by Worf. Though Duras tells Worf that if he is killed, Worf will never be able to regain his honour, Worf kills him nonetheless. Although this is legal under Klingon law, Picard formally reprimands Worf as a Starfleet officer. With no other challengers left, Gowron is named the new Klingon chancellor.
Chronology
The Enterprise narrowly escapes from a nebula, pursued by an alien vessel. As the Enterprise flees, it fires an aft torpedo, disabling the alien vessel. On the bridge, there is an air of relief, though shortly thereafter, Kelly collapses, waking with no memory of the past three days. Picard calls the Sickbay, asking “Is it ready yet?” Dr Henderson comes up to the bridge with security and restrains Kelly, taking him to Engineering, where he is placed in an unfamiliar apparatus, which is then activated.
In the nebula, the Enterprise is fired on by the same alien vessel from earlier. Kelly wakes up, finding he is laying on the floor by his station. Jumping to his battle station, he starts to fire back at the ship, while the Enterprise tries to leave the nebula, which is giving their sensors difficulty. As they escape, they are pursued by the alien vessel. Kelly fires a torpedo, disabling the alien vessel. Before he can celebrate however, he wakes up to find himself in his quarters, seemingly two hours earlier.
Kelly goes to Leslie, who speaks very carefully, and seems eager to get away. Growing more suspicious, Kelly tries to access logs for the time he is missing, only to find that his access to them has been revoked, but there is a log on his personal voice recorder. Through this personal log, dated a day and a half prior, Kelly explains that he has been experiencing time in a somewhat reversed fashion, jumping to points prior. The crew of the Enterprise seem suspicious of him, and he suspects that the crew knows more about the situation that they are letting on.
Kelly is summoned to the bridge, where they are hailed by the alien vessel from earlier. While the aliens appear to be friendly, Kelly scans the ship and determine the status of the alien ship’s weapons. This is detected by the alien ship, angering them, causing them to attack.
Kelly goes through a series of events, gradually waking earlier and earlier, trying to find out more about what is happening in Engineering.
Eventually, Kelly wakes close where his memory gap begins. At this point, he finds that the crew are no longer acting suspiciously, and his access to logs has been reinstated. He goes to Leslie again, and finds that she is much more open again. He confides in her what he has been experiencing. They go to the Sickbay, where it is discovered that he is suffering from anti-chroniton poisoning, sustained from an attack in an away mission earlier in the day. In order to cure Kelly, they must flood his system with chroniton particles, but it will take some time for them to create the apparatus to perform the procedure safely. To avoid the possibility of temporal paradoxes, they lock down Kelly’s access to logs, and the crew is instructed to avoid interaction with Kelly unless strictly necessary.
Kelly wakes on a planet, as part of an away team, at the start of his gap in memory. He has just been hit by an unknown weapon, but seems to have sustained no clear injuries. A medical tricorder shows no issues, and Kelly, understanding that this is the point where he became infected with anti-chronitons, suggests that perhaps the weapon simply malfunctioned, leaving him with no injuries. Shortly after returning to the ship, Kelly loses consciousness, waking in Engineering, being told that the procedure has been a success, and that he is free to go. Kelly’s access to the logs is reinstated, then he and Leslie go together to Ten-Forward to discuss the experience.
The Wounded
While on patrol on the Cardassian border, the Enterprise is suddenly attacked by a Cardassian vessel. Picard convinces its commander, Gul Dukat, to stand down. Dukat then reveals that this was a retaliatory attack for an assault by the USS Phoenix two days prior. The Phoenix is under the command of Captain Maxwell, with whom O’Brien served during the Cardassian War. When Dukat and two of his officers are invited aboard as observers, tensions begin to rise on the Enterprise. The Enterprise follows the Phoenix’s warp trail, finding that it has destroyed more Cardassian vessels. When O’Brien reveals that Maxwell lost his family in the Cardassian War, Dukat suggests that Maxwell is out for revenge, which O’Brien denies. Upon reaching the Phoenix, Picard convinces Maxwell to return to Federation space, though en-route the Phoenix changes course to intercept a freighter. Maxwell insists that they must try to scan the freighter to see the Cardassian deception, and the freighter is revealed to have a field that blocks scanning equipment. As Picard prepares to fire on the Phoenix to maintain the peace, O’Brien transports over and convinces Maxwell to stand down. While the Cardassian observers are returned to their ship, Picard warns them that the Federation will be keeping a close eye on them given their recent suspicious behaviour.
Clues
The Enterprise investigates a star system with a single M-class planet that was briefly picked up on scanners in a local nebula. Upon approaching the planet, they discover a wormhole and the entire crew, with the exception of Data, briefly lose consciousness. Upon waking, Data suggests that this was just due to the effects of the wormhole. While some of the ships instruments suggest that more time has passed, and a probe sent seems to indicate that the planet is in fact a frozen gas giant, Data again attributes these to the effect of the wormhole. Upon leaving, the crew begin to notice other changes that suggest that more time has elapsed than recorded, such as the growth of moss or evidence of surgery having taken place. Examining the probe data, they find reason to suspect that Data is intentionally hiding what happened, and that the crew is suffering from a form of missing time syndrome. Upon returning to the planet, Troi is possessed by an entity that claims to speak for the Paxans, a highly xenophobic race that lives on the planet below. They threaten to destroy the Enterprise, as they have breached a treaty that Picard signed in the missing time. By explaining that more ships would investigate if the Enterprise were to disappear, Picard convinces the Paxans to work with the crew to hide any evidence of missing time, and wipe the crew’s memory again. This time, when the crew awakens, they depart without incident.
Genius Is Pain
The Enterprise arrives in orbit of Mala IV, a planet inhabited by the highly intellectual Alicor, who are renowned for their research. The crew brings aboard Tanna, a highly respected engineer, who is due to give a talk at the Utopis Planitia shipyards on Mars in two weeks time. Tanna reveals that he has recently turned thirty-five, which means that in Alicor society, he must now devote his life to Bohemian pursuits and that his talk at the shipyards will be his last foray into engineering. He acts without inhibition, which quickly causes issue with the rest of the crew, as Tanna’s antics make certain duties more difficult. To solve the issue, Reginald Barclay works with Tanna to try to find a solution which allows him to give in to his desires without causing trouble for the crew. As Tanna proves resistant to working with Barclay, Barclay decides to trick Tanna into visiting a holodeck, where Barclay has programmed a recreation of the Enterprise. Tanna goes into the holodeck, and is allowed to give into his desires until they reach Mars. Upon arrival at Mars, Tanna is hurt by the deception, but understands the intentions of the crew.
The Nth Degree
The Enterprise investigates the Argus Array, which has recently shut down with no explanation. Upon taking a shuttle, Barclay and La Forge discover an alien probe. The probe fires a pulse at the shuttle, disabling it and knocking out Barclay. Upon recovering the shuttle and destroying the probe to prevent any further damage, the crew determines that the array must have been disabled by a similar pulse. Though Barclay seems to have suffered no injuries, his intelligence seems to be steadily increasing. When the Argus Array begins to suffer cascade failure, Barclay is able to come up with a solution that will only require two days. Although Barclay’s solution appears to work, it is quickly found that the Enterprise’s computer cannot keep up with the rate of programming, and as a result, the solution is only temporary. Barclay designs a device that will allow him to interface directly with the computer, and fixes the array. However, the crew find that Barclay has become too integrated with the computer, and when they try to shutdown the computer, Barclay triggers a “subspace inversion” sending the ship across the galaxy in an instant. The Enterprise are greeted by the Cytherians, who sent the probe. They, like the Federation, are explorers, but instead of sending ships out, they give other races the knowledge of how to find them. They remove Barclay from the computer, restoring his original intelligence. The Enterprise stays with the Cytherians for a week, exchanging knowledge, before they are returned to the Argus Array. Although Barclay has returned to normal, he has retained memories, and is able to play chess much better than before.
Galaxy’s Child
The Enterprise welcomes aboard Dr Leah Brahms, one of the people behind the engines for the Galaxy-class starship. La Forge is excited to meet her, but finds that she is frustrated by the modifications that Geordi has made to the engines of the Enterprise, and finds that she is married, something that was not on her records. When Dr Brahms learns of how La Forge saved the Enterprise previously, she asks a crewmember to show her the simulation. La Forge attempts to stop her from finding the simulation, but is too late. Dr Brahms accuser Geordi of invading her privacy. As the Enterprise continues, it is attacked by a large space-faring creature of similar size. In an attempt to stun the creature, the crew accidentally kill the creature, discovering that it was pregnant in the process. They perform a Caesarian section to free the newborn, but the newborn imprints on the Enterprise, thinking that it is its mother. As the newborn leeches power off the Enterprise and gives off radio signals summoning more of its kind, Dr Brahms and La Forge work together to alter the frequency of the energy to get the newborn to leave and join the pack. The plan works, and La Forge apologises to Dr Brahms for making the simulation. The two leave, accepting the possibility that someday, they could be friends.
After All
The Enterprise is summoned to Dravidia Station, near the Klingon border, to take part in a discussion between Starfleet and the KDF, concerning the state of Starfleet after the Borg attack. With how resoundingly the fleet at Wolf 359 was defeated, there are calls in the Klingon Empire for the alliance between Federation and the Klingons to be renegotiated, or to instead join forces with the Romulans. To allow for the Federation explain why they would be the better option, the conference has been called. As the ship that defeated the Borg attack, the Enterprise has been requested to help. At first the conference appears to go well, but the talks quickly deteriorate after diplomats on both sides begin to make unreasonable demands. Many of these diplomats appear much more solitary than the rest, causing suspicion. When one of the Federation diplomats sends an encrypted message to parts unknown, the crew decide to investigate the possibility of some of the diplomats intentionally sabotaging the negotiations to aid other parties. The DNA of one of the diplomats is tested, and it is discovered that they are actually a Romulan spy. Upon revealing this to the entire conference, all the diplomats are tested and several are found to be Romulan spies. In light of this, the alliance between the Federation and the Klingons is kept as is, to stand in the face of potential Romulan aggression.
The Drumhead
When a dilithium chamber in the Enterprise’s warp engine room explodes due to sabotage, the Federation sends a retired rear admiral from the Legal Division, Norah Satie, to investigate. The suspect appears to be a Klingon exchange officer, who has been encoding secret messages in amino acid DNA sequences. The officer admits collaboration with the Romulans, claims that he did not interfere with the chamber. The people who he interacted with are interviewed, and one of them, Simon Tarses, is determined to be hiding something by the Betazoid aide. Meanwhile, La Forge and Data determine that the hatch failure had been caused by fatigue, rather than sabotage. Although Picard considers the matter closed, Satie pushes on, interrogating Tarses. It is discovered that Tarses is actually one quarter Romulan, rather than one quarter Vulcan as he had claimed. Satie uses this to expand her investigation, calling in Admiral Henry to oversee any tribunal. Picard compares the tribunal to a drumhead, and is soon called in for questioning. Satie accuses Picard of multiple breaches of the Prime Directive, and calls Worf “the son of a traitor” when he defends Picard’s actions. Picard quotes Satie’s father with a line that condemns her actions, causing her to launch into a tirade against picard, disgusting Admiral Henry who leaves, then dismisses Satie, closing the investigation.
Qpid
Picard is working on a speech for an archaeology symposium that is to be hosted on the Enterprise when Troi enters to tell him that the visitors have arrived and been assigned quarters. Picard returns to his quarters to find Vash waiting for him. The following morning, they share breakfast, and Dr Henderson offers to give Vash a tour. Vash is slightly surprised and angry that Picard has not told his crew about her, and she confronts him about this at the reception. Following the reception, Q visits Picard to thank him for saving him previously, offering him a favour. When Picard requests nothing, Q decides to test Picard’s love for Vash by transporting Picard, Vash and some of the crew to Medieval England. Picard is to be Robin Hood, and Q is the Sheriff of Nottingham. Picard travels alone to the castle to try to save Vash, but is captured and sentenced to death. Both he and Vash, however, are saved when the crew arrive disguised as monks, and create a diversion, then fight off Q’s guards. Q takes everybody back, and Vash decides to go with Q to see the galaxy. Q promises Vash’s safety, and with that, Picard considers Q’s debt to be fully paid.
The Host
Odan boards the Enterprise to help to negotiate a peace treaty between two hostile races. Ensign Kelly is quite taken by the woman, and during the trip, the two share a love affair. Odan refuses to use the transporter, requesting that a shuttle be used instead. During the mission, the shuttle is attacked by a dissident faction, mortally wounding Odan. While in the Sickbay, it is revealed that Odan is a Trill, a symbiotic species, and that Odan is the symbiont, which still lives. When Odan’s host dies, Troi offers to act as a temporary host until a new host can arrive. Odan’s personality is dominant over Troi’s, and Kelly finds himself uncomfortable when Odan tries to continue the relationship. With some effort, Odan in Troi’s body is able to convince the delegates to come to an agreement. Meanwhile, Kelly confides in Leslie, concerned about the true depth of his feelings for Odan. The Enterprise rendezvouses with the Trill ship, and to Kelly’s surprise, the new host is male. When Odan tries to continue the relationship, Kelly is uncomfortable, knowing that the Trill have no preference on sexual orientation. Odan admits that he still loves Kelly, but understands the confusion and discomfort. Kelly replies that he still loves Odan, even in the new male body.
The Mind’s Eye
When La Forge visits Risa for shore leave, he is captured by Romulans. A double is sent to Risa in his place, while the Romulans tap into his visual cortex via his VISOR, allowing them a limited from of mind control over Geordi. Geordi’s mind is wiped of his capture, and he is given memories of visiting Risa. He arrives back on the ship as they are helping Klingon Ambassador Kell to deal with rebels on an outlying colony, overseen by Governor Vagh. Vagh shows Picard Federation weapons that were taken from the rebels, but Geordi finds that they were replicated with Romulan technology. Later, under direction of his controller, La Forge transports the weapons to the surface and erases the logs. Having monitored this, Vagh accuses Picard of deception. Data and La Forge review the logs and find that only they and two other people could have possibly falsified the logs. La Forge travels to Kell’s quarters where it is revealed that Kell is controlling him and Kell orders him to kill Vagh in a public manner. At Kell’s suggestion, Picard invites Vagh to the Enterprise to review the logs personally. Meanwhile, Data determines that La Forge never made it to Risa, and is under control of another party. Data stops the assassination attempt, and finds that the controlling device must be close, and therefore either in Kell or Picard’s possession. Kell refuses to be searched, but Vagh offers to search him on the colony. Kell requests asylum, fearing the consequences of failing. Picard says he will offer asylum after the Klingons clear him of any wrongdoing Vagh’s guards take Kell away.
Beyond
The Federation receives a message from the Rexham, an alien species that lives outside of the galaxy. They wish to initiate diplomatic relations with the species of the galaxy, but are unable to pass through the galactic barrier. The Enterprise is sent to the edge of the galaxy with Dr Adam Scott to try to find a way to break through the barrier. Dr Scott has a radical method of projecting a bubble of positive subspace energy around the ship to protect the subspace bubble to the warp drive, but this requires large amounts of energy, and cannot be held for long periods of time. Dr Scott, with the help of La Forge, is able to successfully pilot the ship through the barrier, but finds that the ship is now low on power, and does not have enough energy to pass back through the barrier. They contact the Rexham, but find that the ship that they have sent is unmanned, controlled remotely, and does not have enough power to help the Enterprise. However, the ship has charted the local area, and is able to point the Enterprise in the direction of a dilithium rich asteroid. The Enterprise travels to the asteroid, and is able to harvest some dilithium to replenish the warp core. With this, the Enterprise is able to travel back through the barrier. The Rexham send a message that perhaps someday, when technology has improved, that they will be able to visit the galaxy.
Half A Life
The Enterprise takes aboard Lwaxana Troi and Dr Timicin. Dr Timicin is working on a project to re-ignite a dying star, which he hopes can save his planet from destruction. To test, modified torpedoes are fired into a star in a similar state to Timicin’s own. While initially, the results seem promising, the star soon collapses. Timicin is crushed by this, and when questioned by Lwaxana, he reveals that he is nearly 60, at which age people in his culture undergo a form of voluntary euthanasia. Lwaxana tries to stop him, telling him a story of how a cruel tradition was stopped on Betazed by one person, then asking why if it is his time to dies, should it not be time for his star to die. Dr Timicin requests asylum to begin his work and renounce the tradition. Upon hearing this, the science minister of his planet sends two warships to ensure that the Enterprise does not leave with Dr Timicin on board. Dr Timicin realises that his situation is not as simple as he first thought. When Timicin’s daughter Dana arrives to convince him to go down and participate, he agrees, realising that he is not the person to begin a cultural revolution. Lwaxana joins him, as it is part of the tradition for loved ones to be present when the euthanasia takes place.
Redemption (Part I)
Captain Picard, along with the Enterprise, are asked to travel to Qo’nos to witness the ascension of Gowron to the Chancellorship of the Klingon Empire. Gowron warns Picard that the House of Duras may challenge Gowron’s position, which would lead to civil war. Worf requests a leave of absence to visit his brother Kurn, who controls a small fleet, to convince him to help, as Gowron could reinstate Worf’s family name.
In the middle of the ceremony, the Duras sisters present the illegitimate son of Duras, Toral, who has the right to challenge Gowron. As the Arbiter of Succession, Picard is called on to determine legitimacy. Picard cites that due to the young age of Toral, he is unfit to become Chancellor. Gowron returns to his ship to meet Worf, who offers the support of his brother in exchange for the reinstatement of his family name. Gowron refuses, but soon they are attacked by two Duras warbirds. After defeating the warbirds, Gowron and Worf return to the surface for Gowron to be installed as Chancellor. Gowron then reinstates Worf’s family name.
Gowron and the Enterprise crew learn that the Duras sisters are working to create a fleet to start a civil war. As the Federation cannot interfere with the internal affairs of other nations, Worf resigns his commission to help Gowron. The Enterprise evacuates the area before any armed conflict can begin. This causes the Duras sisters and Toral to consider Picard a coward, but their Romulan ally warns them to expect him to show up again, before stepping out of the shadows revealing her resemblance to the late Tasha Yar.
TO BE CONTINUED
