Riker: Someone sure stripped this place.
Worf: The reactor's gone.
Riker: No wonder they didn't answer our hail for two days. Nothing here to answer with.
Data: Commander, I am detecting life signs from behind that door.
Riker: Worf!
Crusher: Commander, take a look at this.
Riker: Blood.
Crusher: Yes, but not human. I'm going to have to do some analysis on it.
Worf: It's jammed.
Crusher: The two scientists are suffering from phaser stuns. I'd guess several hits each.
Picard: Several?
Crusher: It'll take us a while to bring them around, but they will recover. We found a sample of blood. It's a rare iron-copper composite, unique to one humanoid species. The Acamarians.
Picard: Acamarians? Then that would suggest the Gatherers.
Data: It is a likely hypothesis. The nomadic marauders who refer to themselves as Gatherers have raided other outposts in neighboring sectors.
Riker: They've never come out this far before.
Picard: Mister Crusher, set course for the Acamar system.
Wesley: Aye, sir.
Picard: Captain's log, Stardate 43421.9. In an effort to put an end to the Gatherer raids, we have come to the Acamar System to enlist the aid of Marouk, the Sovereign of Acamar Three.
Picard: Their raids have made this sector unsafe. They've ransacked our research facilities, our trade routes have been disrupted.
Marouk: The Gatherers are elusive. We've only managed to capture a handful of them. But with the Starfleet's help
Picard: Hunting them down is not what I am proposing.
Marouk: Reconciliation with the Gatherers is impossible. It's been tried. Every time we've offered amnesty, they've rejected it.
Troi: When was the last attempt made?
Marouk: Eighteen years ago.
Picard: Eighteen years?
Marouk: For almost a century now, they've been parasites, moving from star system to star system, living on what they could find or steal.
Picard: They're still your people.
Marouk: No. Captain, you have to understand our history. A hundred years ago, before the Gatherers split off from our culture, we were a savage, violent race. Clans battled clans. Bloody, vengeful feuds that lasted for generations. But we overcame those ways, all except for the Gatherers.
Troi: After a century of wandering, they may be ready to come home.
Picard: Despite your progress, you are a divided society, and so it will remain until the Gatherers return to Acamar.
Marouk: The attempt may be futile.
Picard: But there is so much to gain and there is so little to lose by the effort. The problem affects us all. It cannot be ignored.
Picard: Sovereign Marouk, welcome to the Bridge.
Marouk: Thank you, Captain.
Picard: How soon will you be ready to leave Acamar?
Marouk: I am ready now, Captain. I need only bring aboard two more servants.
Riker: I'll see to that, and to your accommodations.
Marouk: I have reason to believe there is a Gatherer encampment somewhere in the Hromi Cluster.
Picard: Mister Data?
Data: The Federation has charted but not explored several class M planets in that area. Any one of these planets might well serve as a base.
Picard: Mister Crusher, set course for the Hromi Cluster.
Wesley: Aye, sir.
Marouk: A fine ship, Commander.
Riker: We're all very proud of her.
Marouk: Yuta, a light meal in twenty minutes.
Yuta: May I be shown the kitchen, Commander?
Riker: You're the chef?
Yuta: Yes. I'll prepare all meals for the Sovereign and her servants.
Riker: We can provide you with a kitchen, but it won't really be necessary. These food dispensers can synthesize anything that you may been. I'll show you. Sovereign, may I offer you a drink?
Marouk: Yes, thank you. Cold water.
Riker: Computer, a glass of water, five degrees.
Yuta: Please.
Riker: You're also the food taster?
Yuta: That's part of the cook's duty.
Yuta: I'm sure the Sovereign will wish to sample many of the cuisines your ship has to offer, but there are some Acamarian dishes that she will insist upon.
Riker: I will arrange for a technician to help program your recipes into the computer. Of course, I'll have to try some of them. What's your specialty?
Yuta: I have none.
Riker: Don't be modest. You can't tell me you haven't come up with a few culinary delights.
Yuta: There is a spiced parthas dish.
Riker: Parthas?
Yuta: A green vegetable with fleshy roots.
Riker: Parthas a la Yuta. I look forward to tasting it. Sovereign. Chef.
Wesley: Now entering standard orbit of Gamma Hromi Two, sir.
Data: Captain, I am detecting life readings from the planet surface, as well as several small areas of thermal radiation and carbon dioxide emissions, indicative of combustion.
Wesley: Campfires, Data.
Data: Is that not what I said?
Riker: It's worth a look.
Picard: Make it so.
Riker: Data, Worf.
Laforge: Artonian lasers. Tonkian homing beacons. Quite a collection.
Data: Noranium alloy, sir. It's salvage value is quite low.
Riker: Looks like these Gatherers weren't too diskriminating in what they steal.
Worf: Commander? Ambush!
Data: Rigelian phaser rifles, sir. Not particularly powerful.
Riker: Powerful enough. We came to talk!
Worf: Your words are wasted, Commander. They understand only this.
Riker: We're here to establish a dialogue, Worf.
Riker: Data, tell me about noranium. It vaporizes at?
Data: Two thousand three hundred fourteen degrees. Of course, noranium carbide
Riker: Thank you, Data.
Laforge: Setting seven ought to do it.
Riker: Three, two, one, now!
Riker: Enterprise, four to beam up.
Brull: Cowards!
Worf: Your ambushes would be more successful if you bathed more often.
Riker: We've brought the Sovereign of Acamar.
Brull: Marouk? Here?
Riker: With an offer of amnesty.
Marouk: Full dispensation will be extended to all Gatherers who are willing to return to Acamar Three.
Brull: You don't trust me, Marouk.
Marouk: Should I?
Brull: But you expect me to trust you. Maybe you just poisoned it yourself. Taste this, Temarek.
Marouk: Barbarians. This is futile.
Picard: Sovereign. Brull!
Brull: Go home, old woman.
Marouk: You people haven't changed in a hundred years.
Brull: You should know. You were there.
Picard: Sit down! Please. Please. Now, we're here to talk.
Marouk: It's a waste of time, Captain. They don't care about how they live.
Brull: Am I supposed to believe that you care how we live?
Marouk: Yes.
Picard: Brull, she's here, isn't she?
Brull: Maybe you forced her to come, Picard.
Marouk: Nobody forces me anywhere, Brull.
Brull: What is there for us on Acamar Three?
Marouk: A life. A home. You can end your wanderings, your miserable existence.
Brull: Do I look miserable to you?
Marouk: The clan wars are over, Brull. It is a past we're ashamed of. It is why you had to leave. Now, it is time to come home.
Brull: I want to speak privately with Sovereign Marouk and Picard. Everyone else, get out.
Riker: Any insights?
Troi: Brull's ready to negotiate. He just wants privacy so that he won't appear weak in front of the other Gatherers.
Yuta: You are of the clan Lornak.
Volnoth: What of it? I've seen you before.
Yuta: Yes.
Volnoth: But it's impossible.
Yuta: No. Look closer. I am Yuta of the clan Tralesta.
Yuta: I am the last of my line, but my clan will outlive yours.
Brull: Marouk's offer has value.
Picard: Commander.
Brull: But still, I don't know.
Picard: But you'll agree it is enough to present to your leader.
Brull: Chorgan is a better judge of these matters. I will take it to him. You will hear from me in twenty days.
Picard: Brull, in twenty days, I hope to be very far away from here.
Marouk: With all due respect, Brull, I would like to make the offer to Chorgan myself.
Picard: We'll gladly take you with us on the Enterprise. How many of your men do you want to accompany you?
Brull: I'll come alone. If this is a trap.
Marouk: Oh, it isn't.
Brull: Mallon, you'll be in charge while I'm gone. If I'm not back in ten days
Temarek: Brull! Brull!
Brull: Volnoth.
Riker: Away team to Enterprise. Medical Emergency.
Brull: Volnoth was an old man. There's nothing to be done.
Riker: There's a chance that our doctors can do something.
Brull: You found him?
Temarek: Yes. And there are no other members of the Lornak clan here, so I claim his possessions.
Brull: Granted.
Marouk: Have you no respect for the dead?
Brull: What's there to respect about a corpse?
Brull: Temarek, no. Calm down.
Crusher: He's been dead too long.
Riker: How?
Crusher: Cardiac arrest?
Riker: You don't sound convinced.
Crusher: No, he died of a heart attack, all right, but I can't find the cause. His cardiac muscle is strong and there's no sign of arterial occlusion.
Picard: Brull, will you show Mister Crusher the course to set to the Hromi Cluster?
Brull: A child? This doesn't inspire my confidence.
Wesley: This is our present position.
Brull: Set a heading for three four three mark seven two.
Wesley: That's going to take us through the center of an asteroid belt.
Brull: What's the matter, kid? Can't you fly yourself around a couple of rocks?
Wesley: Sure I can, but if we take this heading we can avoid the belt completely, and only lose twelve point one minutes at warp seven.
Brull: Have it your way, kid.
Marouk: For centuries, my planet was in chaos. Loyalty to one's clan was absolute. The slightest injury to one member demanded violent retaliation.
Picard: And these blood feuds could last for decades?
Marouk: The obsession with vengeance would be passed from generation to generation. And with each act of retribution, the violence would escalate.
Picard: It's not unlike much the history of my own planet.
Yuta: Your pardon, Sovereign. May I be excused briefly? Commander Riker requested that I prepare him an Acamarian dish.
Marouk: Of course, Yuta.
Brull: What are you doing?
Wesley: Homework.
Brull: What is this?
Wesley: Math.
Brull: I can see that, but what does it mean?
Wesley: This is the locally Euclidean metrisation of a k-fold contravariant Riemannian tensor field.
Brull: You good at it? You don't like me.
Wesley: I didn't say that.
Brull: No problem. I have many friends that don't like me. But what do you know about me?
Wesley: You're a thief.
Brull: I do it to survive, not because I enjoy it. We Gatherers value our freedom. We do as we want and we answer to no creature.
Wesley: Then why are you helping Sovereign Marouk to change all that?
Brull: Maybe because I want something better for me, and for my children.
Wesley: You have children?
Brull: Yeah, two sons. One's just about your age. He's not any good at math.
Riker: Parthas a la Yuta.
Yuta: With the help of one of your food stations.
Troi: It's wonderful.
Riker: Truly excellent.
Yuta: Thank you.
Riker: Would you care to join us?
Yuta: I don't want to intrude.
Troi: You're not. I was just leaving. Please, sit down.
Riker: It really is delicious.
Yuta: I'm glad it pleases you, Commander.
Riker: I'm not your commander. My name is William.
Yuta: I will call you William if you prefer.
Riker: I do. When you say Commander you say it like you say Sovereign to Marouk.
Yuta: As a servant. You're an excellent commander, but you'd make a poor sovereign.
Riker: Why's that? Not that I disagree.
Yuta: You're not comfortable with servants.
Riker: No, I prefer the company of equals.
Yuta: So you treat me as an equal.
Riker: And you're not comfortable with that?
Yuta: I'm not used to it. I've always been a servant. Not that I'm complaining. The Sovereign treats me well. I have all that I could want.
Riker: What about freedom?
Yuta: I can never have that.
Riker: Because you're the property of the Sovereign?
Yuta: No. I'm not her slave. I can leave whenever I wish.
Riker: But you have no place to go?
Yuta: Just the opposite. My path is all too clear.
Riker: Yuta, you're an excellent chef, but you speak in riddles.
Yuta: I've never been very good at conversation.
Marouk: Yuta.
Yuta: I believe the Sovereign wants me to return. Enjoy the parthas.
Crusher: Sickbay to Commander Riker. I've discovered something interesting, Will.
Riker: On my way.
Riker: You're scowling, Doctor.
Crusher: I'm thinking.
Riker: And?
Crusher: The old Gatherer on the planet? I know what caused his heart attack. The medical tricorder almost missed it, but there was a microvirus in his body, blocking his autonomic nerve impulses.
Riker: And that stopped his heart?
Crusher: But here's the really interesting part. This microvirus will only attach itself to cells which contain a very specific DNA sequence.
Riker: How specific?
Crusher: Without knowing more about their genetic makeup, I can't be sure. But my guess is, this virus would only kill one Acamarian in a million.
Riker: Pretty single-minded bug.
Crusher: Too single-minded. I can't believe it's a naturally occurring virus.
Riker: Meaning somebody engineered it.
Crusher: Meaning Volnoth was murdered.
Data: Sir, Acamar Three has agreed to your request for access to their databases. They are now being transmitted into our computer over subspace link.
Riker: Good. Notify Doctor Crusher when Acamar's medical database is online. Riker out. Come in.
Yuta: I'm disturbing you.
Riker: Not at all.
Yuta: As the Sovereign has no further need for my services this evening, she suggested I might spend some time with you.
Riker: What a charming suggestion.
Yuta: She appreciates the affection you've shown me.
Riker: Was I that obvious?
Yuta: Yes.
Riker: Well, I've already dined. Maybe you know a good Acamarian dessert recipe.
Yuta: Does that not please you? Tell me what you want, William. I will do anything you wish.
Riker: Wait a minute.
Yuta: I don't understand. Don't you want me to give you pleasure?
Riker: Not as a servant. I told you, I prefer equals.
Yuta: Even in the matters of love?
Riker: Especially in matters of love.
Yuta: I've offended you.
Riker: No. I only want to make you as happy as you want to make me. You're entitled to that.
Yuta: No, I'm not.
Riker: Yuta.
Yuta: I do not feel pleasure, or passion. I haven't been able to for a long time.
Riker: I don't know who did this to you, or why, but it can change.
Yuta: I wish it could. Tonight most of all. I'm sorry.
Picard: Your people prepare a warm welcome.
Brull: That's Chorgan's ship.
Worf: Shields holding.
Picard: Mister Worf, contact Chorgan. Tell him Brull has brought us to talk.
Worf: Chorgan is not responding.
Picard: Mister Worf, can we knock out their shields without seriously damaging their ship?
Worf: I believe we can, sir.
Picard: Prepare phasers and open a channel.
Worf: Phasers locked. Channel open.
Picard: Chorgan, this is Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the Enterprise. All right, let's focus their attention. Mister Worf, fire phasers.
Worf: Their forward shields are inoperative.
Picard: Well done, Lieutenant.
Worf: We are being hailed, sir.
Picard: That's better. On screen.
Chorgan: Brull, you traitor! You have led them here to destroy me!
Picard: Chorgan, if I had wanted you destroyed, you would not be talking to me now. Obviously, I wanted something else.
Chorgan: And what is that?
Picard: I have on board Sovereign Marouk of Acamar Three. I want you to hear what she and Brull have to say.
Brull: She's worth listening to.
Chorgan: I don't wish to listen to either of you.
Picard: You have no choice. Prepare to receive us. We're beaming on board. Picard out. Cancel Red Alert. Tell Sovereign Marouk meet me in transporter three.
Worf: Aye, sir.
Riker: You're going alone, Captain?
Picard: The danger is minimal, Number One. Chorgan is unlikely to do anything rash with the Enterprise's phasers trained on his ship.
Riker: There are still risks.
Picard: For these negotiations to succeed I must be a mediator, not an enforcer. You have the Bridge, Number One. Brull.
Picard: Chorgan, this is Sovereign Marouk.
Chorgan: You may sit.
Picard: Chorgan, I think you will find Marouk's proposal
Chorgan: You know, Picard, I could take you prisoner. Oh, don't worry, I've no intention of doing so. I know what trouble it's been for you to get here, and I am curious why.
Picard: Then let's proceed.
Marouk: Quite simply, I am proposing amnesty for every Gatherer.
Chorgan: Amnesty? You mean slavery.
Brull: Chorgan, if you want to know what I think
Chorgan: I don't. Say what you came to say, though I doubt that I'm going to believe you.
Marouk: I didn't believe this very persuasive Federation Captain when he suggested that we could reconcile our differences. I'm convinced now it's the right thing, not just for you, but for us too. We need you back. I've brought some Acamarian brandy. I'm sure it's been a long time.
Chorgan: No! You have spent a century hunting us down.
Picard: She is trying to put an end to all that.
Chorgan: Yes, by luring us back and putting us in prison.
Marouk: No, by accepting you back as free men.
Chorgan: Will you feed and clothe us, too?
Marouk: No, of course I won't. What I will do is give you the means to feed and clothe yourselves. We've set aside some land and you can use it to
Chorgan: Land? Do we look like farmers to you?
Marouk: Then don't farm. Use the land as you wish. It is yours. And the moment you set foot on it, you'll be better off than you are today. You won't be running any longer.
Chorgan: We will need autonomy.
Marouk: Autonomy?
Picard: Sovereign, we can at least acknowledge that Chorgan appears willing to discuss your offer.
Marouk: There are many levels of autonomy. Certainly your region would have certain rights.
Chorgan: Yes, and those rights will be spelled out before I agree to anything.
Data: Commander, I'm afraid the only entry we have on Volnoth in the Acamarian database is a birth record.
Riker: Probably one of the last of the Gatherers to be born on their planet.
Crusher: Commander? I've been digging through the medical database from Acamar Three for hours, and I have found another victim of the same microvirus that killed Volnoth. But only one. Fifty three years ago, a Gatherer named Penthor-Mul.
Riker: Data? Anything in your file on Penthor-Mul?
Data: Yes, sir. He was a member of the Lornak clan. He was captured while leading a Gatherer raid on an Acamarian outpost. He died of a heart attack before his trial ended.
Riker: Display Volnoth's birth record again.
Crusher: Lornak. The same clan.
Riker: The only two recorded deaths by this microvirus both from the same clan. What does that tell us, Doctor?
Crusher: If these microbes were engineered for murder, I'd say somebody could be going after a whole family.
Data: Commander, Chorgan, the present leader of the Gatherers, is also from the Lornak clan.
Riker: I want to know just how this clan was involved in the Acamarian blood feuds, and I'd like to know any clue as to who their enemies were. How could this virus have been transmitted, Doctor?
Crusher: More ways than I can count. And it's perfectly safe to the carrier as long as he doesn't have the same DNA patterns.
Riker: Tailor made for their enemies.
Data: Commander, eighty years ago the Lornaks massacred a rival clan, the Tralestas. It ended a feud that had lasted for two hundred years.
Riker: Ended it?
Data: According to these records, there were no survivors. The Tralestas were annihilated.
Crusher: Something tells me they weren't all been wiped out.
Riker: There must be a missing link here.
Crusher: Computer, any members of the Acamarian delegation from the Tralesta clan?
Computer: Clan affiliation is not within provided records.
Data: Sir, I believe I have found a correlation between the two deaths. Your missing link. That is Penthor-Mul being led from his trial.
Riker: I don't see the connection.
Data: Behind him and to the left, sir.
Riker: Computer, scan left and magnify.
Data: The computer can extrapolate and reconstruct the rest of the face, sir.
Riker: Do it.
Crusher: But that photograph was taken over fifty years ago.
Riker: Fifty three years ago, and she hasn't aged a day.
Marouk: Three seats on the ruling council?
Chorgan: If we're going to be subject to your laws, we want a part in making it.
Marouk: Well I agree you're entitled to representation but not on the ruling council.
Chorgan: Unacceptable. The real power is in the council. You're shutting us off already.
Marouk: No! You're trying to take too much! No group has three seats on the council.
Chorgan: I don't care what others have.
Marouk: You only care about what you can take.
Picard: Sovereign, if the situation were reversed, I'm sure you would be demanding equal levels of representation.
Marouk: You're right, Captain. I apologize for my temper.
Picard: Perhaps a brief pause would be helpful.
Chorgan: I agree. Maybe a little touch of that brandy?
Marouk: Yuta.
Picard: You know, thank you, it is remarkable how very much alike the two of you actually are.
Chorgan: That's ridiculous.
Marouk: Really, Captain.
Picard: No, I'm quite serious. You are both able negotiators, strong leaders.
Brull: We don't obey weak leaders.
Chorgan: We have nothing in common at all. We haven't agreed to anything.
Picard: You're wrong, Chorgan. We've agreed to have some brandy together.
Riker: Don't move!
Chorgan: A Federation trap!
Picard: Chorgan, I assure you, my First Officer has a good reason for his actions. You do, Number One?
Riker: Yuta. Move away from Chorgan. Do it.
Yuta: Why?
Riker: Because of a man you once knew named Penthar-Mul.
Chorgan: Penthar-Mul? How do you know Penthar-Mul?
Riker: Tell him, Yuta.
Yuta: I don't understand.
Riker: You were with Penthar-Mul when he died.
Yuta: It was fifty years ago. How could I?
Riker: I know, Yuta. Stop! Chorgan, keep perfectly still. Your life is in danger. Step back, Yuta.
Yuta: William, this is not your concern.
Riker: It is now. You're about to commit a murder.
Yuta: It isn't murder. It's justice.
Chorgan: Who are you?
Yuta: Yuta of the clan Tralesta.
Chorgan: There are no more Tralestas.
Yuta: Five survived the last Lornak raid. But on that day, a century ago, my life ended and my search began. I was the one chosen, transformed. My cells were altered, my aging slowed, enough to finish my task.
Marouk: You used me in order to get to the last few you couldn't reach.
Yuta: Yes, Sovereign.
Chorgan: You will never leave this ship alive.
Yuta: You're the last. Once you're dead, what happens to me doesn't matter.
Riker: The wars are over, Yuta.
Yuta: You cannot understand.
Riker: You're right, I can't. Because I've seen the part of you that regrets what you've become. Listen to me. You don't have to do this any more.
Yuta: I have no choice.
Riker: You do.
Yuta: William, I. I'm sorry.
Riker: Stop.
Riker: Yuta, don't do this.
Chorgan: Commander, I am in your debt.
Picard: Oh, yes, thank you. New orders from Starfleet. The rendezvous. Nothing, thank you. The rendezvous with the Goddard has been postponed.
Riker: In the meantime?
Picard: Starbase three four three. We're to take on medical supplies for the Alpha Leonis system.
Riker: Sounds pretty routine.
Picard: With the Gatherer truce in effect, it certainly should be. We won't require a full ship's complement. I'm going to extend shore leave on the starbase to anyone who wants it.
Riker: I'll pass that along to the crew, Captain.


Williams: Brother John Bates, is not that the morning which breaks yonder?
Bates: I think it be, but we have no great cause to desire the approach of day.
Williams: Who's there?
Data: A friend.
Williams: Under what captain serve you?
Data: Under Sir Thomas Erpingham.
Williams: I pray you, what thinks he of our estate?
Data: Even as men wrecked upon a sand, that look to be washed off the next tide.
Bates: He hath not told his thought to the king?
Data: No, nor it is not meet he should. For though I speak it to you, I think the king is but a man, as I am. The violet smells to him as it doth to me, in his nakedness he appears but a man. Therefore, his fears, out of doubt, be of the same relish as ours are. Yet no man should possess him with any appearance of fear, lest he, by showing it, should dishearten his army.
Bates: He may show what outward courage he will, but I believe, as cold a night as 'tis, he could wish himself in Thames up to the neck.
Data: Methinks I could not die anyplace so contented as in the King's company, his cause being just and his quarrel honorable.
Williams: That's more than we know.
Bates: Or more than we should seek after. If his cause be wrong, our obedience to the King wipes the crime of it out of us.
Williams: But if the cause be not good, the King himself hath a heavy reckoning to make when all those legs and arms and heads chopped off in a battle shall join together at the latter day and cry all, we died at such a place.
Data: The King is not bound to answer the particular endings of his soldiers, the father of his son, nor the master of his servant.
Picard: Splendid, Data. Splendid. You're getting better and better.
Data: Freeze program. Thank you, sir. I plan to study the performances of Olivier, Branagh, Shapiro, Kullnark
Picard: Data, you're here to learn about the human condition and there is no better way of doing that than by embracing Shakespeare. But you must discover it through your own performance, not by imitating others.
Riker: Riker to Picard. Sorry to interrupt, sir.
Picard: Go ahead, Number One.
Riker: Sensors are picking up an
Riker: Unidentified craft in the Neutral Zone.
Riker: It's heading toward Federation space.
Picard: On our way. Picard out. We'll get to the rest of the act another time, Data. Computer, file program and clear.
Data: Captain, why should a king wish to pass as a commoner? If he is the leader, should he not be leading?
Picard: Listen to what Shakespeare is telling you about the man, Data. A king who had a true feeling for his soldiers would wish to share their fears with them on the eve of battle.
Data: Sir, will I be able to schedule a performance for the crew in the near future?
Picard: Let's not rush it, shall we?
Riker: Outpost Sierra Six confirms our readings, sir. They identify it as a Romulan scout ship. Bearing two seven zero mark one four.
Picard: A scout ship? What would a scout ship be doing this far into the Neutral Zone?
Worf: Captain. Shall we transmit a warning to withdraw, sir?
Picard: Open a hailing frequency.
Worf: Aye, sir. Captain, the Romulan is hailing us. PICARD; Visual.
Worf: Not within range yet.
Picard: Open a channel.
Setal: Federation ship, do you read? I require urgent assistance.
Picard: This is Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the USS
Setal: Federation ship. Please, help me. Requesting asylum. Under pursuit.
Riker: Pursuit?
Worf: Visual range. On screen, Captain.
Picard: Red Alert. Open a channel to the warship.
Riker: Come to intercept course. Keep us out of the Neutral Zone.
Worf: Channel is open.
Riker: how long before they cross over into Federation territory?
Data: Forty-one seconds, sir.
Picard: Romulan warbird, this is Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the Federation vessel Enterprise. You have crossed into the Neutral Zone and are engaged in hostile action. Explain yourself and your intent.
Worf: No reply, sir.
Picard: Hail the scout.
Worf: Responding.
Picard: On screen.
Setal: Federation craft. Please, you must help me!
Picard: We are moving to intercept. Maintain your course and power.
Data: Scout ship is severely damaged, Captain. Engines inoperative, shields are down.
Riker: Position?
Data: Coordinates one four zero by two zero five, sir.
Riker: Federation space.
Picard: Right. Move to within five kilometers. Mister La Forge, prepare to extend
Picard: Our shields around the Romulan scout ship.
Laforge: At that range, the shields won't be able to take much punishment, Captain.
Data: Five kilometers, sir.
Riker: All stop.
Picard: Extend shields.
Laforge: Shields in place.
Laforge: We've got the scout ship, Captain.
Worf: Weapons on the warbird are fully powered, sir.
Picard: Lock phasers. Open a channel.
Worf: Ready.
Picard: Romulan vessel, you are now in Federation territory. Unless you withdraw
Riker: No argument?
Worf: Warbird has re-entered the Neutral Zone. Heading for Romulan territory.
Data: Massive power failure to the scout ship, sir. All systems are going offline, including life support.
Picard: Transporter two, prepare to beam the occupant of the scout ship directly aboard.
Crewman: Aye, sir.
Riker: Mister Worf.
Picard: Mister Data, lock onto the scout ship. Take it in tow.
Riker: Energize.
Setal: I must see your captain immediately.
Riker: We'll take you to Sickbay, after that
Setal: This cannot wait. I have information vital to your survival.
Picard: Captain's log, Stardate 43462.5. We have beamed aboard an apparent Romulan defector, who claims to be a low ranking logistics officer with extraordinary information about a secret offensive.
Setal: The humiliating defeat at the Battle of Cheron has not been forgotten. The new leaders have vowed to diskard the treaty and claim the Neutral Zone. Nelvana Three is just the first step.
Riker: You're saying an entire base has already been established there?
Setal: In forty-eight hours, the reactor core will be online.
Riker: So the Federation sensors that monitor the Neutral Zone just missed it?
Setal: It would seem so. In two days, a fleet of Romulan warbirds will be within striking distance of fifteen Federation sectors.
Worf: The Federation will not permit that.
Setal: Then it is war that we're talking about, isn't it? Destroy the base now and the threat is over.
Picard: Well, I'm sure you are fatigued by your ordeal and you require medical attention. Lieutenant Worf, will you accompany Sublieutenant Setal to the Sickbay. We will attend to your quarters.
Setal: No doubt you will wish to question me further.
Picard: No doubt.
Riker: He tells a hell of a story.
Picard: You don't believe it?
Riker: The Empire knows that we'd never allow them to maintain a base within the Neutral Zone.
Data: Commander, that would not be an atypical Romulan ploy. In their long history of war, the Romulans have rarely attacked first. They prefer to test their enemy's resolve.
Riker: I think he's a plant to draw us into the Neutral Zone. Then we'll look like the aggressors.
Picard: And the Romulans would have a legitimate excuse for responding in force.
Riker: Exactly.
Data: That would also not be an atypical Romulan ploy, sir.
Picard: It's always a chess game with them, isn't it?
Laforge: Well, at least he's given us the chance to get a look at some Romulan technology close up.
Picard: Mister La Forge, you will lead the away team over to the scout. Commander, you and Counselor Troi will conduct Setal's interrogation.
Data: Captain, permission to observe the interrogation?
Picard: No, Mister Data. I need you on the Bridge with me. There is much to be done. We have less than forty eight hours to prevent a war. Or perhaps to start one. This will depend on establishing the truth of
Setal: I set the auto-destruct sequencer before I left the ship.
Riker: Why?
Setal: Wouldn't you? To prevent your ship from being captured?
Riker: Excuse me for being a little confused, Setal, but I thought you were defecting.
Setal: I am not a traitor. All you can see is the opportunity to exploit me. The Federation credo, exploitation. You couldn't get aboard my ship fast enough. Strip it down. What secrets might it reveal that we can use? You're a short sighted people. Can't you understand? I came to stop a war.
Crusher: If you could just hold still? With your metabolism, this will heal in a few moments.
Setal: Thank you, Doctor. How fortunate you know something of Romulan medicine.
Crusher: Yes. I had a chance to gain some experience recently.
Setal: Ah, yes. The incident at Galorndon Core. The two officers.
Worf: You are aware of a great deal for a logistics clerk.
Setal: It was common knowledge. I can show you my rating code.
Worf: Forged credentials are a simple matter for a spy.
Setal: How do you allow Klingon pahtk to walk around in a Starfleet uniform?
Worf: You are lucky this is not a Klingon ship. We know how to deal with spies.
Setal: Remove this tohzah from my sight.
Riker: Your knowledge of Klingon curses is impressive. But as a Romulan might say, only a veruul would use such language in public. Mister Worf, please see to the security arrangements for our guest's stay.
Worf: Aye, sir.
Riker: You find something amusing?
Setal: Lieutenant Worf. I like him. To be more accurate, I understand him. A warrior, proud, fearless, living only for combat. Exactly the type that will get us all killed, if we're not careful.
Riker: This is the food station. You can reach me through the comm. panel. Later, we'd like to ask you a few more questions.
Setal: Computer, water.
Computer: Temperature?
Setal: Twelve onkians.
Computer: This system is calibrated to the Celsius metric system.
Setal: Any temperature at all on the cold side of whatever your system is.
Data: There is no unusual activity in the Nelvana System, sir.
Picard: Let's isolate and magnify that system.
Data: Nothing on the sensors.
Picard: It is hard to believe in what one cannot see. And yet conceivably, with their cloaking technology, a fleet of Romulan warships could be passing before our eyes. There must be some way to neutralize this advantage.
Computer: Captain Picard, priority one message from Starfleet coming in on secured channel.
Picard: In my Ready room. Computer, delay time?
Computer: Two hours, twenty two minute delay from time of transmission
Computer: At Starfleet Command on Lya Three.
Picard: Computer, key access four one two mark eight zero. Picard, Jean-Luc. Starfleet priority code Gamma. Decode. Begin message.
Haden: Captain, we have received an official protest from the Romulan Empire demanding the return of your defector. Obviously, we are refusing to comply. I join in your skepticism, but if it is a deception, the Romulans are certainly making a good show of it. The Federation Council has convened in emergency session. There is no doubt in my mind that this will eventually fall on your shoulders, Jean-Luc. You've got him. You must decide if he's telling the truth. For now, I suggest you proceed along the Neutral Zone border toward a Federation position proximate to Nelvana Three.
Picard: Picard to Lieutenant Worf.
Worf: Yes, Captain.
Picard: Please come to my Ready room.
Worf: Aye, sir. On my way.
Laforge: Slow playback. Display engine logs and power data of both vessels. Now watch what happens at zero nine five four three three on the clock. The scout has sustained engine damage, forcing him to slow to point six one five impulse power. The warship should overtake him, but it doesn't. Now, just two point six seconds later, the warbird slows to precisely the same speed. Three times, three speed fluctuations. The warship kept its distance every time. I don't think they wanted to catch up.
Crusher: And yet they fired at the scout ship. They could have killed him.
Data: Not necessarily, Doctor. The Romulans have the same capability to direct the impact of their weapons as we do.
Picard: Is there a possibility the wound could be self-inflicted?
Crusher: They're very bad burns. I hardly think
Picard: A possibility.
Picard: Captain's log, Stardate 43463.7. We're holding a position at the Neutral Zone border proximate to Nelvana Three. If our guest is telling the truth, there are twenty one hours left before the Romulan base becomes functional.
Haden: The Monitor and the Hood are headed in your direction, though they will arrive too late to be of assistance. Warnings have gone out to all outposts along the border as well as several independent vessels in nearby sectors. No one here wants a war, Captain. But we are prepared to take them on if that's what they want. All Federation starships have been placed on Yellow Alert.
Picard: Come.
Data: You wanted to see me, Captain?
Picard: Yes, Data. I want you to prepare a class one probe. Set the sensors for maximum scan. I want every meter of Nelvana Three monitored.
Data: I will start my calibrations, sir.
Picard: Data?
Data: Is there something else you require of me, Captain?
Picard: Your clarity of thought. Your objectivity, as always. Sit down. Data, it's very possible we are about to go to war. The repercussions of what we do during the next twenty four hours may be felt for years to come. I want you to keep a record of these events, so that history will have the benefit of a dispassionate view.
Data: I will begin immediately, sir. Is that all?
Picard: How is the crew's spirit?
Data: They are concerned, of course, Captain, but confident. Do you not see that, sir?
Picard: Data, unlike King Henry, it is not easy for me to disguise myself and walk among my troops. That'll be all.
Picard: Now, if these men do not die well, it will be a black matter for the king that led them to it.
Setal: Why must we waste time playing this ridiculous game?
Troi: There's more here than you're telling us. You're forcing yourself to hold back.
Setal: I have told you everything relevant about Nelvana Three.
Troi: I'm not talking about the base.
Setal: The base is all that matters.
Riker: You're lying, Setal.
Setal: Go to Nelvana Three, and you will see.
Riker: We're not going anywhere until we get to the truth You're a spy, aren't you?
Setal: No.
Riker: Then prove it. You can begin by telling me something about the location and strength of the Romulan fleet.
Setal: I don't know it.
Riker: You're a logistics officer.
Setal: For one sector only.
Riker: Who's your superior officer?
Setal: Admiral Jarok.
Riker: The location of the Romulan bases along the Neutral Zone?
Setal: I don't know.
Riker: In your sector?
Setal: Irrelevant.
Riker: The number of troops under your admiral's command?
Setal: Irrelevant. Irrelevant.
Riker: I guess you're right. It's not worth playing this game.
Setal: What a fool I've been. To come looking for courage in a lair of cowards.
Computer: Captain Picard, priority message from security officer, Klingon vessel Bortas.
Picard: Lieutenant Worf, will you handle this at security station, deck nine.
Worf: Aye, sir.
Data: Sensors are configured for planetary probe, sir. Ready for launch.
Picard: Proceed.
Data: Probe on course. Sensors are functioning.
Picard: Coordinate your analysis with Mister La Forge. I want this report with dispatch.
Laforge: I don't know, Data. My gut tells me we ought to be listening to what this guy's trying to tell us.
Data: Your gut?
Laforge: It's just a feeling, you know? An instinct. Intuition.
Data: But those qualities would interfere with rational judgment, would they not?
Laforge: You're right. Sometimes they do.
Data: Then why not rely strictly on the facts?
Laforge: Because you just can't rely on the plain and simple facts. Sometimes they lie.
Data: They can lead to wrong conclusions, but they cannot lie.
Laforge: What do you think? Is he a defector or not?
Data: The facts to date would lead to an objective conclusion that he is not.
Laforge: Somehow I think we're going to catch the Romulans with their pants down on Nelvana Three, just like he says.
Data: With their pants?
Laforge: A metaphor. Catching them in the act.
Data: Because your gut tells you so?
Laforge: Exactly. But you can't always go with your gut either. It's a combination, Data. Right, I'll put it to you this way. All these feelings that get in the way of human judgment, that confuse the hell out of us, that make us second guess ourselves, well we need them. We need them to help us fill in the missing pieces because we almost never have all the facts.
Data: So a person fills in missing pieces of the puzzle with his own personality, resulting in a conclusion based as much on instinct and intuition as on fact.
Laforge: Now you're getting it.
Data: But what does one do if he has no instinct and intuition?
Laforge: Data. Look at this. The facts just took a left turn.
Data: As the probe went into orbit around Nelvana Three, it began picking up low level subspace radio emissions.
Picard: Could they be naturally occurring?
Data: No, sir. The patterns are clearly artificial.
Laforge: The signal was so faint our ship sensors couldn't read it from this distance.
Picard: Can we decode it?
Laforge: We've tried. It's probably Romulan but we can't be sure. We've also picked up ionization disturbances.
Data: Cloaked Romulan ships could produce that effect.
Picard: What about the planet surface?
Laforge: Reading nothing but barren rock. I don't know. They might be able to hide a base from our probe. Its capabilities are limited. The only way we'll know for sure is if we go and take a look for ourselves.
Picard: That'll be all, gentlemen.
Setal: I take it you have never seen a Romulan before.
Data: That would be an incorrect assumption.
Setal: Then why do you invade my privacy?
Data: I was attempting to ascertain what my guts tell me about you.
Setal: You're the android. I know a host of Romulan cyberneticists that would love to be this close to you.
Data: I do not find that concept particularly appealing.
Setal: Nor should you.
Data: I am told by various crewmembers that this viewport is their favorite on the ship.
Setal: I thought it would bring me some comfort. But these are not my stars. Even the heavens are denied to me here. Synthetic swill. I don't suppose your food terminals would be capable of producing a Romulan ale?
Data: I am afraid they would require the molecular structure of the beverage in question. And, as you are no doubt aware, our knowledge of your planet is quite limited.
Setal: The loss is yours. For I have visited over a hundred different worlds, and none possessed the awesome beauty of Romulus.
Data: Am I correct in assuming you regret your decision to come here?
Setal: What I did had to be done. But to never again see the firefalls of Gath Gal'thong, and the spires of my home as they rise above the Apnex Sea at dawn. It's a bitter thing to be exiled from your home.
Data: It does appear unlikely you will ever be allowed to return to your planet.
Setal: The cold reaction of an android.
Data: But perhaps we can bring Romulus to you.
Computer: Program complete.
Data: Run program.
Data: After you.
Setal: The valley of Chula. I know it well.
Data: You are free to stay here as long as you wish.
Setal: I no longer live here. Turn it off.
Data: Cancel program.
Setal: This. This is my home now. My future. I have sacrificed everything. It must not be in vain. Arrange a meeting between myself and Captain Picard. Tell him Admiral Jarok wants to see him.
Haden: Captain, we have confirmed that you are holding Admiral Alidar Jarok. He has been identified as the commander at the massacre at the Norkan outposts. The Council strongly advises that you to consider Jarok an unreliable source of information.
Picard: Bring him in.
Picard: Ensign, will you wait outside? Have a seat, Admiral Jarok.
Jarok: Captain, there is no more time.
Picard: Admiral, have a seat. You see, I'm just not convinced that you are telling the truth.
Jarok: What must I do?
Picard: You must convince me. If I had irrefutable evidence? But you did not bring irrefutable evidence. You brought no evidence at all. Now, here, you are not the man you claimed to be. Admiral, your credibility is stretched beyond belief. A Romulan defector is almost a contradiction in terms. But Admiral Jarok crossing the lines?
Jarok: I explained my motives to your interrogators.
Picard: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Peace in our galaxy. Except, Admiral, you are not a man of peace. Your military record, what we know of it, is clear.
Jarok: which is precisely why I chose an alternate identity here.
Picard: The massacres in the Norkan outposts, for example.
Jarok: What you call massacres were called the Norkan Campaign on my world, Captain. One world's butcher is another world's hero. Perhaps I am neither one.
Picard: On what basis, Admiral, am I to decide? Your good word? Are you willing to help us overpower the Romulan B-type warbirds we may encounter? Are you prepared to help us detect them through their cloaking shields? You see my problem, Admiral. You ask us for faith in circumstances which are hardly possible to believe, compounded by lies and your refusal to tell us all you know.
Jarok: I cannot betray my people.
Picard: You've already betrayed your people, Admiral. You've made your choices, sir. You're a traitor. Now, if the bitter taste of that is unpalatable to you, I am truly sorry. But I will not risk the lives of my crew because you think you can dance on the edge of the Neutral Zone. You've crossed over, Admiral. You make yourself comfortable with that.
Jarok: Do you have any children, Captain Picard? A family?
Picard: No.
Jarok: Then you have sacrificed too much for your career.
Picard: Yes, this is all very interesting.
Jarok: There comes a time in a man's life that you cannot know. When he looks down at the first smile of his baby girl and realizes he must change the world for her. For all children. It is for her that I am here. Not to destroy the Romulan Empire, but to save it. For months, I tried desperately to persuade the High Command that another war would destroy the Empire. They got tired of my arguments. Finally I was censured, sent off to command some distant sector. This was my only recourse. I will never see my child smile again. She will grow up believing that her father is a traitor. But she will grow up. If you act, Picard. If we stop the war before it begins
Picard: I can't. And I won't. Unless I have unequivocal cooperation.
Picard: Admiral Jarok has provided me with the locations, strengths and tactical plans of the Romulan fleet. Mister La Forge, he is prepared to give you data regarding engines, weapons and the cloaking systems of the warbird class starship. But I believe his experience as a field commander will be more valuable for its strategic sense than in the technical areas.
Laforge: Any edge'll help, Captain.
Picard: Don't depend on it. For all we know, he may still be lying, but we shall find that out soon enough. Number One, set course for Nelvana Three. Second officer's log, stardate 43465.2. We have entered the Neutral Zone in direct violation of the Treaty of Algeron. Presuming Romulan warships are cloaked and monitoring us, we expect heavy resistance as we approach Nelvana Three.
Riker: Tactical?
Worf: Nothing on sensors.
Riker: I don't like it I would've expected a greeting party.
Picard: You echo another noteworthy commander in a similar circumstances, Number One. A countryman of yours, George Armstrong Custer when his Seventh Cavalry arrived at the Little Big Horn.
Riker: May we have better luck.
Data: Approaching Nelvana system.
Picard: Engage impulse engines.
Riker: Nelvana Three on screen. Still no sign of them on sensors. In a way, I'd rather be fighting my way this, It's just too damned easy.
Picard: Prepare to enter standard orbit. Data?
Data: Scanning the planet, sir. No life forms, no power sources, no weapons systems.
Riker: No indication of a base at all?
Data: No, sir.
Picard: The subspace signal the probe detected? The ionization disturbances?
Data: I am picking them up, sir, but I cannot identify the source. They seem to be moving in an orbital path with an eight hundred kilometer apogee.
Picard: Lieutenant Worf, bring the Admiral up here.
Worf: Aye, sir.
Riker: Maybe they abandoned the planet after he defected.
Data: There is no scarring on the planet surface that would denote heavy construction of any kind.
Riker: A cloaking device of some sort, to hide the entire base?
Data: A cloaking device operating on the surface would be given away by visible distortion effects.
Picard: Perhaps you'd care to explain why we're here, Admiral.
Riker: There doesn't appear to be a base.
Jarok: I don't understand.
Picard: Nelvana Three, Admiral. No base, no weapons, no sign of any life at all.
Jarok: But I saw the tactical communiqués. The records. Timetables for completion. An entire legion was assigned to the section.
Picard: Is it possible they could have been feeding you disinformation? You said that you had been censured. Reassigned, four months ago. They knew of your dissatisfaction. Could all this have been to test your loyalty?
Jarok: No. No. It's impossible.
Picard: They let you escape with an arsenal of worthless secrets. What other explanation is there?
Riker: Permission to withdraw from the Neutral Zone?
Picard: At your earliest convenience, Number One.
Riker: Helm, bring her round one hundred and eighty degrees. Geordi, get us out of here.
Laforge: I hear you, Commander.
Worf: Two Romulan warships uncloaking. Coordinates
Worf: Shields holding.
Riker: Damage?
Laforge: Minor damage in the secondary hull.
Laforge: Power transfer fields may be pinched off.
Laforge: I'm working on it.
Worf: Captain!
Picard: Not yet, Mister Worf. This is just a tap on the shoulder, or we wouldn't be here talking about it.
Worf: The Romulans are hailing us.
Picard: On screen.
Tomalak: Captain Picard, I hardly expected to see you again so soon. It seems this time you are the one who has made an aggressive move across the Neutral Zone.
Picard: Commander Tomalak, as I'm sure you already know, we were responding to a warnings of Romulan incursions at Nelvana Three.
Tomalak: But, Captain, as you can see, there is no incursion.
Picard: And the matter of the unidentified subspace radio emissions, and the ionization disturbances?
Tomalak: Ah, you must mean our orbiting probe. We are studying Nelvana Three for archeological research.
Picard: With a cloaked satellite?
Tomalak: Really, Captain, would you have us believe this satellite is an excuse for your aggressive charge across the Neutral Zone?
Picard: You can believe what you wish. We will be on our way.
Tomalak: Without even an apology, Captain?
Picard: If an apology will do, then I offer it.
Tomalak: I'm afraid it won't, so I will save you the humiliation.
Picard: Get to it, Tomalak.
Tomalak: You see, Picard, after we dissect your Enterprise for every precious bit of information, I intend to display its broken hull in the center of the Romulan capitol as a symbol of our victory. It will inspire our armies for generations to come, and serve as a warning to any other traitor who would create ripples of disloyalty.
Jarok: All the communiqués, all the timetables, all the records. They were all fiction, written for my benefit. A test. A test of my loyalty. And you used me to lure the Enterprise into the Neutral Zone.
Tomalak: First, Captain, you will return the traitor Jarok, then you will surrender as prisoners of war.
Picard: Do you seriously expect me to accept those terms?
Tomalak: No, Captain Picard, I expect you won't. You have thirty seconds to decide.
Picard: I do not require one, Tomalak.
Tomalak: I urge you, Captain Picard, surrender. Consider the men and women you would lead into a lost cause.
Picard: If the cause is just and honorable, they are prepared to give their lives. Are you prepared to die today, Tomalak?
Tomalak: I expected more from you than an idle threat, Picard.
Picard: Then you shall have it. Mister Worf.
Worf: Aye, sir.
Worf: Klingon warships armed and ready, sir.
Picard: What shall it be, Tomalak?
Tomalak: You will still not survive our assault.
Picard: You will not survive ours. Shall we die together?
Tomalak: I look forward to our next meeting, Captain.
Worf: Romulan disruptors powering down, sir.
Picard: Cancel red alert. Mister Worf, will you extend the appreciation of the Federation and my personal gratitude to the Klingons.
Worf: Aye, sir.
Picard: Take us back, Number One.
Jarok: I did it for nothing. My home, my family. For nothing.
Crusher: He ingested a Felodesine chip. He must have brought it with him. I'm sorry, Captain. There was no antidote.
Riker: A letter to his wife and daughter.
Data: Sir, he must have known it would be impossible for us to deliver this.
Picard: Today, perhaps. But if there are others with the courage of Admiral Jarok, we may hope to see a day of peace when we can take his letter home.


Picard: Captain's log, Stardate 43489.2. We have arrived at Angosia Three, a planet that has expressed a strong desire for membership in the Federation. Prime Minister Nayrok has taken Commander Riker and me on a tour of the capital city.
Picard: Well, I'm greatly impressed with everything I've seen so far, Prime Minister.
Nayrok: Then I hope it will reflect favorably in your report, Captain.
Riker: It's a tribute to your people that you were able to recover so rapidly from the Tarsian War.
Nayrok: It is indeed. We are not warriors. We believe reason can settle disputes. But not every culture agrees with our position.
Picard: An unfortunate reality.
Nayrok: The development of the mind, the cultivation of the intellect, these are the pursuits to which the Angosians have dedicated themselves for centuries.
Zaynar: Prime Minister. I'm sorry to interrupt, but we have a problem. May I see you for a moment?
Nayrok: Excuse me, gentlemen. Yes, what is it?
Picard: Well, I think they'll make a fine addition to the Federation, Number One.
Riker: I'm not sure I'd like to live in this place. A little stuffy for my taste.
Nayrok: A prisoner has escaped from the penal colony on Lunar Five. Two guards are dead. The prisoner has taken a transport vessel.
Riker: Do you have means of pursuit?
Nayrok: The tracking station was sabotaged. The entire base is in chaos. We have ordered ships from the surface to follow him, but to be honest, our civilian pilots are not trained for this.
Riker: With your permission? Mister Data, a stolen transport vessel has departed from Lunar Five.
Riker: Have you picked it up on the sensors?
Data: Yes, Commander.
Riker: Good.
Riker: Detain the vessel and quarantine the pilot. Is he armed?
Nayrok: Yes. And extremely dangerous, Commander. Lunar Five is a maximum security facility.
Riker: Did you read that, Data?
Data: Yes, sir.
Data: We will use extreme caution.
Riker: Keep us informed. Riker out.
Worf: On screen, sir.
Data: Specifications on the vessel, Mister Worf?
Worf: No warp drive. Minimal weaponry.
Data: Heading, Mister Crusher?
Wesley: Three one nine mark two five oh, sir.
Laforge: Vessel's speed increasing to point oh two impulse. He's seen us, Data.
Laforge: That's the ship's drive section
Wesley: What happened to the rest of the ship?
Data: Scan the drive section for life form readings.
Worf: None.
Data: Bring us around to the back side of the asteroid, Mister Crusher.
Laforge: Sensors indicate wreckage on the asteroid's surface, Data.
Worf: No life signs.
Data: Apparently, he did not survive.
Wesley: Data, the drive section. Where'd it go? There's no sign of it on its previous heading. Someone must be at the helm.
Riker: Status report, Mister Data?
Data: I am afraid the prisoner has eluded us, sir.
Picard: Eluded the Enterprise?
Data: We followed procedures precisely, Captain. Scanners indicated no life forms present in the drive section. I cannot explain how he escaped.
Worf: Incoming message from the Angosian Prime Minister.
Picard: On screen.
Nayrok: Captain, we've identified the prisoner. His name is Roga Danar. His criminal record is too long to go into, but I must caution you that he is given to bouts of uncontrollable violence.
Picard: I appreciate your warning, Prime Minister. We will keep you informed of our progress.
Riker: Geordi, how far and how fast can that transport ship travel?
Laforge: Without warp drive, there's no way he could be out of our range by now.
Wesley: We've been sweeping the area constantly, Commander. There's nothing within sensor range.
Picard: A cloaking device?
Worf: Sir, the Angosians have no cloaking technology.
Riker: Unless he's borrowing one. If he's hanging over the planet's pole, the magnetic field would confuse our sensors.
Data: Commander, I believe I can recalibrate our sensors to read through the electromagnetic interference over the poles.
Riker: Let's try it. Mister Crusher, realign for polar orbit.
Wesley: Aye, sir.
Data: There he is, Commander. You were correct.
Riker: This guy knows all the tricks, doesn't he.
Data: There are still no life form readings coming from the vessel.
Laforge: Could it be the magnetic interference, Data?
Data: I have compensated. Still no readings.
Picard: We'll have an answer shortly. Lock on tractor beam, Mister La Forge.
Laforge: Tractor beam locking on, sir.
Data: He is coming about, sir.
Riker: He's out of his mind!
Worf: Sensors detect a massive power build up in his aft thrusters.
Picard: On main viewer.
Laforge: He's making a suicide run.
Data: Shields have been automatically activated. Tractor beam disengaged.
Wesley: He bounced off the shields.
Riker: That's an interesting twist.
Picard: Mister Crusher, fix coordinates onto that vessel. We'll just beam the whole thing to a shuttlebay if we have to.
Data: I do not believe that will be necessary, Captain. He is no longer in the drive section.
Picard: What?
Data: I anticipated that diversionary tactic based on his pattern to date. We are picking up a cylindrical object approximately seven meters in length and three meters in diameter.
Worf: On screen.
Picard: Magnify.
Wesley: An escape pod.
Laforge: This guy's incredible.
Data: Yet there are still no life form readings.
Picard: Transporter room four, prepare to beam aboard from inside that shuttle anything large enough to be a humanoid adult.
O'Brien: Aye, sir.
Worf: Security team, report to transporter room four.
Security: On our way, sir.
O'Brien: We're holding the contents in stasis pending arrival of security. An illicit weapon has been detected in the transport beam, sir.
O'Brien: It's been rendered inoperable.
Riker: Work, let's greet our guest.
Security: Bring him in, Mister O'Brien.
Security: Just stay where you are.
O'Brien: More security, transporter room four. More security! More security!
Riker: Get him to a detention cell. Set phasers on maximum stun.
O'Brien: Commander.
Nayrok: We'll need a few hours to get the containment field on Lunar Five operational before we pick him up. The damage he did during his escape was considerable.
Picard: We will await your signal.
Nayrok: I appreciate your patience. The prison psychologist recommends that you keep Danar fully sedated until he's ready for transport.
Picard: Well, he's in our highest security detention area. There shouldn't be any more problems.
Nayrok: Do not relax your security for an instant, Captain. He is extremely violent and very cunning, as you already know. I will send a transport vessel to pick him up as soon as possible. Nayrok out.
Riker: Have you run a diagnostic on the sensors, Data?
Data: Yes, sir. There is nothing wrong with the ship's sensors. The reason we did not sense life signs aboard the escape vessel is because the prisoner has no life signs.
Riker: Computer, identify the occupant of the detention cell.
Computer: The detention cell is vacant at this time.
Riker: He's in there.
Picard: Could he be some kind of android?
Data: Our sensors can identify artificial lifeforms, sir. Apparently, he is capable of deceiving the sensors.
Troi: Are you all right?
Roga: What is this ship?
Troi: You're on board the USS Enterprise.
Roga: A war vessel?
Troi: A Federation starship.
Roga: Federation!
Troi: We were orbiting Angosia when you escaped from Lunar Five.
Roga: It seems that I am a victim of my own bad timing. And you are the keeper of this jail?
Troi: I'm Deanna Troi, ship's Counselor.
Roga: Counselor? Too bad. I'd rather you were a jailer to keep me company during my return trip. I assume we are returning to Lunar Five.
Troi: That terrifies you.
Roga: I just killed three men to get out of there, Counselor, and I'm fully capable of killing you as well. That's terrifying thought, isn't it? Even to me.
Troi: Do they mistreat you there?
Roga: Not at all. I am comfortable, well fed and housed. Oh no, the Angosians take good care of their prisoners. It's simply a matter of never being able to leave. What about you, Counselor? Do you always visit the prisoners? Are you a specialist in criminal behavior? Or am I just an interesting specimen that landed on your ship like an insect to be studied under your microscope?
Troi: Why do you have all this anger toward me?
Roga: A girl with long dark hair broke my heart a long time ago. Out of bitterness and resentment, I turned to crime. How about this one? My mother abandoned me when I was a little boy. I never got the guidance that a wild young man needed.
Troi: Why are you doing this?
Roga: Playing games? Isn't that what you do, Counselor? Isn't that what all of you mind control experts do?
Troi: I am not a mind control expert. I came here because I sensed you were in pain.
Roga: And what do you sense now?
Troi: The pain is gone.
Roga: It's interesting, isn't it?
Troi: There's a duality in the man. It's hard to describe. He's aware of his crimes. In fact, they trouble him deeply.
Picard: Counselor.
Troi: He's intelligent, thoughtful, typically Angosian. I know what he's done, but when I'm with him I cannot believe he is randomly and deliberately violent. in fact, inherently, he has a non-violent personality.
Picard: Counselor, it took five men to restrain him and he took apart half of the Transporter Room in the process.
Troi: I'm not opening the door for him, Captain. I can only tell you that I sense something very unusual about him. Something that is not inherent to a criminal personality.
Picard: In a few hours, I'll be turning him over to the Angosians, and I'll be happy to do it.
Troi: I understand.
Troi: Data, do we have a link up to the Angosian central computer?
Data: Yes, Counselor. We are copying records for Federation inspection pursuant to their application for admittance.
Troi: Can I see a police record on Roga Danar?
Data: There is no police record.
Troi: That's impossible. He's been in prison.
Data: Lunar Five is a military prison facility.
Troi: Military? He's a soldier ?
Data: That may provide an explanation for the tactics he was able to use against us when we tried to capture him.
Troi: It doesn't say here what he was arrested for. Call up his military record.
Data: He served in many campaigns during the Tarsian War, received two promotions, to the rank of Subhadar. A very honorable tour of duty
Troi: What was this man's crime?
Troi: I've learned you are a soldier.
Roga: I was a soldier.
Troi: Why were you put in prison?
Roga: Obviously, because I am a threat to society.
Troi: There's no police record. What did you do?
Roga: Everything they asked me to do. That's why I became such a threat.
Troi: I don't understand.
Roga: Why are you bothering to try, Counselor?
Troi: Because I want to help, if I can.
Roga: Unlock the door.
Troi: You are a non-violent man, yet you committed acts of excessive violence.
Roga: You can learn to do it if you have to.
Troi: Did you have to?
Roga: It was war.
Troi: So it started with the war?
Roga: It started the day I volunteered, Counselor. The day I began training. The day I met my first instructor. And he also called himself a counselor.
Troi: Roga Danar was an idealistic young man who answered his people's call to service. He joined the military to fight for the Angosian way of life. What he didn't realize was that by doing so he would have to give up that way of life for ever. He's not the same man who left home to go to war. He's been through intense psychological manipulation and biochemical modifications.
Crusher: At Troi's request I examined him. His cell structure has been significantly altered. They used a combination of cryptobiolin, triclenidil, macrospentol and a few things I can't even recognize.
Riker: Was he a prisoner of war? Who did this to him?
Troi: His own government. He's been programmed to be the perfect soldier. He can be absolutely normal, but when a danger is perceived, the programming clicks in and takes over. Memory, strength, intelligence, reflexes, all become enhanced. He's conditioned to survive at any cost.
Crusher: One of the new substances in his cellular structure even shields electrical impulses.
Data: Perhaps that would explain why our sensors did not detect him.
Picard: Why was he assigned to the Lunar Five facility?
Troi: He committed no crime. He says he was ordered there with others like him. When the first soldiers returned to Angosia, they had trouble. The rules changed too quickly. A lost temper could result in murder.
Data: Counselor, did no one try to adjust their programming?
Troi: They were just exiled to Lunar Five.
Picard: Lunar Five, an orbiting gulag.
Roga: What do you want?
Data: Am I disturbing you?
Roga: Yes.
Data: Then I will leave.
Roga: NO. Wait, wait. I'd rather talk to someone. Why do you have yellow eyes?
Data: I am an android. I believe you and I have something in common.
Roga: We do?
Data: Yes. We have both been programmed.
Roga: Ah, yes, yes. You've been talking to Counselor Troi. It is not at all the same, android.
Data: I do not mean to belittle your condition. I understand your dilemma. But I am curious. My program can be altered. Yours cannot?
Roga: The man I was is still inside me, but this conditioning has been imposed. Woven together with my thoughts and my feelings and my responses. How do you separate the program from the man?
Data: Without further analysis of your condition from Counselor Troi or Doctor Crusher, I cannot say. But I believe it is possible.
Roga: Yeah, doctors! The Angosian doctors did this to me. If it could be undone, wouldn't they undo it?
Data: I cannot answer that.
Roga: Nor can I, yet I ask myself that question every moment of every day.
Nayrok: Captain, what this man has been telling you is full of half-truths. He's a prisoner. What do you expect him to say about us?
Picard: Well, perhaps you would clarify it for me.
Nayrok: The soldiers were resettled on Lunar Five. It was to be their colony.
Picard: Was it a resettlement of their choosing?
Nayrok: It was for their own protection as well as that of others. Most of them were quite happy there. We went to great lengths to give them a fine quality of life.
Picard: Prime Minister, even the most comfortable prison is a prison.
Nayrok: Unfortunately, a few agitators like Danar forced us to add security.
Picard: My medical team suggests there may be alternative treatment.
Nayrok: Captain, I assure you that every alternative has been explored. And this discussion is now treading upon matters of internal security, which is not your concern. I have dispatched a ship to rendezvous with you to transport the prisoner back to Lunar Five. On behalf of Angosia, I thank the Federation for its assistance in retrieving our citizen.
Picard: Matter of internal security. The age-old cry of the oppressor.
Roga: Were you built for combat, android?
Data: No. But my program does include military strategy. That is how I was able to anticipate your final tactic and capture you.
Roga: You did that? Perhaps you would be better at combat than you think.
Data: Except that I am not programmed to kill.
Roga: My improved reflexes have allowed me to kill eighty four times. And my improved memory lets me remember each of those eighty four faces. Can you understand how that feels?
Data: I am incapable of any feeling.
Roga: Why, then I envy you.
Troi: Roga, this is Captain Picard.
Roga: Captain.
Picard: Mister Danar, I'm transferring you to Angosian security. They're en route. They will arrive shortly. I wanted to tell you I have no choice. The Prime Minister insisted and we have no right to refuse.
Roga: You would be foolish to consider it otherwise, Captain, for they are very correct. I am dangerous. There is no place for me in a civilized society.
Troi: I do not believe that.
Data: Nor do I.
Picard: I respect my officers' judgments. I wish I could help further. If a way appears to me, I will.
Roga: I appreciate your telling me that face to face.
Picard: I thought you deserved that much.
Roga: And you deserve to know that I must use whatever means I can to escape.
Worf: Captain, the Angosian transport vessel has arrived.
Picard: Inform them the transfer will take place shortly. Picard out. Mister Data, to the Bridge please.
Roga: Take care of yourself, android. I enjoyed our talk.
Data: I too.
Troi: Perhaps when this planet becomes a member of the Federation, we'll be able
Roga: I will not be there to see it, Counselor. Because even with this overwhelming demand to survive that they've built into my soul, I would rather die than return to Lunar Five.
Wagnor: Captain Picard, we're ready to receive the prisoner. Now transmitting the coordinates of our holding cell.
Data: Coordinates received, sir.
Picard: Stand by for transport. Picard out. Mister Worf, have all security precautions been taken?
Worf: Release of the force field and activation of the transporter will be virtually simultaneous. There will only be a point one second difference between them.
Riker: Even Danar can't move that fast.
Worf: There will be a full security contingent present.
Picard: Proceed.
O'Brien: Transporter room one to Lieutenant Worf. We're ready, sir.
O'Brien: Energizing.
Worf: O'Brien, increase transporter power.
O'Brien: I'm losing him.
Troi: Roga, don't! You'll be killed!
O'Brien: What the hell?
Riker: Security personnel, full alert. Shut down all shuttlebays, transporters, and turbolifts.
Worf: Captain, a phaser is missing.
Worf: We must assume that he is armed.
Picard: Sound general quarters. Clear corridors of all non-essential personnel. I don't want him taking any hostages.
Data: General quarters sounded, sir.
Picard: Raise security containment fields immediately on decks thirty four, thirty five, and thirty six.
Security: Aye, sir.
Riker: Data, put the turbolifts back online. If Danar sees they're operating, he may try to use them. Soon as he does, we have him.
Data: Sir, unauthorized access of turbolift five on deck thirty four.
Riker: He took the bait.
Picard: Data, override its destination. Divert that turbolift to a position near Lieutenant Worf's present location.
Data: Four seconds to arrival, sir.
Worf: We're in position.
Worf: Phaser on overload! Seal this deck.
Worf: Captain, the overload has been averted.
Roga: Drop force field on deck thirty six.
Data: Sir, containment field down on deck thirty six.
Riker: How the hell did he manage that?
Picard: He's headed for Engineering.
Riker: Riker to La Forge. Engineering, respond.
Riker: Engineering!. Engineering, come in! Geordi, are you okay?
Data: Captain, someone in Engineering is attempting to override the security system lockout.
Riker: Riker to Worf, he's in Engineering.
Worf: Acknowledged, Commander. We're on our way.
Picard: Data, I want you to stall Danar. Allow him to think he's succeeding.
Data: As he bypasses each subsystem, I can re-route it without his knowledge.
Picard: Make it so.
Data: Danar is extremely adept, sir. I am not certain which security measure he is attempting to circumvent. Sir, Danar has succeeded in restoring power to shuttlebay two.
Data: I have overridden Danar's bypass. Shuttlebay two is once again inactive.
Picard: Very good, Mister Data. Now we know where he's headed.
Worf: Geordi!
Laforge: I'm all right. He took us by surprise. He came out of nowhere. I didn't think anyone could move that fast.
Data: Lieutenant, I am reading an open panel. K twelve, J nine, deck thirty.
Worf: Acknowledged.
Laforge: Danar must have climbed up the reactor core and got into a Jefferies tube. He could be anywhere.
Worf: We believe he is attempting to reach shuttlebay two.
Laforge: That's twenty five decks up from here. Quite a climb, but I wouldn't put it past him.
Worf: There is a full contingent of security at all shuttlebays.
Laforge: You want my advice? Double it!
Data: Captain, reading another open access panel.
Picard: Security team to Jefferies tube J four, deck fifteen.
Security: Security acknowledged.
Riker: Deck fifteen, a few decks below the shuttlebay.
Data: Sir, I find it highly unlikely that Danar would be attempting to reach shuttlebay two.
Picard: Explain.
Data: In our previous encounter, Danar employed a strategy of misdirection in an attempt to gain his objective.
Picard: And you believe he's using the same tactic now.
Data: He is aware that our sensors are unable to track him, yet he seems to be purposely leaving a trail for us to follow.
Riker: Where do you think he's headed?
Data: I am afraid his true destination remains a mystery. Readings now indicate an open access panel in Jeffries tube N eleven, deck thirty eight.
Picard: He's doubled back on us.
Riker: The cargo bays.
Picard: Advise all personnel on deck thirty eight to stay out of the cargo bays.
Picard: Status, Mister Data?
Data: They appear to be empty, sir.
Picard: Good. I want you to flood them with anestazine.
Data: Aye, sir.
Data: Sensors show anestazine concentration seventy parts per million within the cargo bays.
Riker: That should have put our boy to sleep.
Picard: Return environmental conditions to normal, Mister Data. Move in your security teams, Mister Worf.
Worf: Acknowledged.
Worf: Worf to Bridge. We have found no sign of the intruder. But there is a missing pressure suit
Worf: From cargo bay three.
Picard: Pressure suit?
Riker: Could be he's planning to enter shuttlebay two from outside the Enterprise, bypassing the security guards.
Picard: Mister Worf, post security guards at all emergency airlocks on decks
Picard: Thirty seven through thirty nine.
Worf: Aye, sir. I'll also cover the photon torpedo launchers. Danar may attempt to leave the ship that way. Worf out.
Worf: Danar! You are cunning. You must have Klingon blood. But the battle is over.
Roga: My battle is never over.
Worf: Worf to Bridge. I have Danar.
Data: Explosion in Jefferies tube section T nine five. All external sensors inoperative.
Riker: Go to backup systems.
Data: Unable to transfer control, sir.
Roga: Sit down, gentlemen.
Worf: Worf to Bridge.
Picard: Go ahead.
Worf: Danar has escaped.
Worf: He used a phaser to power the cargo transporter. Coordinates indicate he beamed aboard the Angosian transport ship.
Picard: Data, can you verify that?
Data: Negative, sir. All external sensors still nonfunctioning.
Picard: Then we have no way to track him.
Riker: That was his plan all along. First officer's log, supplemental. We are continuing to repair damage to the ship's sensors following the escape of the Angosian prisoner, Danar. He is still at large.
Riker: Engineering, I'm getting readings on Tactical. Are we back up?
Laforge: That's affirmative, Commander.
Picard: Mister Worf, sweep the area.
Data: Captain, the Prime Minister is hailing us. Priority one.
Picard: On screen.
Worf: Priority channel cleared.
Picard: Yes, Prime Minister?
Nayrok: Captain, I've just been informed that Roga Danar has attacked the penal colony on Lunar Five.
Picard: Attacked it ?
Nayrok: In our own police shuttle. Several of my people have been wounded. Hundreds of prisoners are rioting. Some of them have escaped with Danar and at last report are headed to the capital city. Captain, we are not suited to handle situations like this. That's what we created them for.
Picard: I'll send an away team, Prime Minister. Picard out. Counselor Troi, Commander Data, Mister Worf, you will accompany me to the planet.
Picard: And my understanding is these men are programmed to survive. Is that correct?
Troi: Yes, Captain.
Picard: And that they will not kill unless their survival is at stake?
Data: It is against their nature to do so, Captain.
Picard: Then let us hope they do not believe their survival is at stake.
Riker: Mister Worf, you are personally responsible for the Captain's safety.
Worf: I understand, Commander.
Nayrok: I don't expect them to listen to reason. I loathe the idea of a violent confrontation, but we must be prepared.
Nayrok: This is all you've brought? Where are your security men?
Picard: We're not here to fight your wars for you.
Nayrok: They have been seen moving toward the center of the city. People are scared. Don't you understand, Captain? They're dangerous.
Picard: You are dangerous. They're only victims. You made them what they are. You asked them to defend your way of life and then you diskarded them.
Zaynar: They were not happy here.
Troi: They were not welcome here.
Zaynar: It was the will of the people to resettle them.
Nayrok: No one was pleased with the solution, but we had to act for the greater good.
Data: Prime Minister, if you have the skills to create a master soldier, can you not contradict the effect?
Nayrok: The chemicals can be removed from their systems, but we're not convinced that the psychological conditioning can ever be entirely reversed.
Data: Have you tried, sir?
Nayrok: We studied it thoroughly. Even before the training began, we knew there would be problems reversing it. It was a risk we had to take.
Worf: Did you reveal that risk to the men who volunteered for service?
Nayrok: We were helping them to survive the war, you understand? They needed these skills.
Picard: They're your brothers, your sons, and you turned your backs on them.
Troi: There are methods of treatment. Until you try them, how can you know they won't work? Even a partial recovery could give them some peace.
Zaynar: It was the will of the people.
Troi: To allow them to suffer?
Nayrok: There was a referendum. The people weighed the costs involved. They chose the resettlement solution.
Zaynar: Besides, we may need to use them again some day.
Picard: Have you understood one word that we've said?
Roga: Freeze! Nobody move!
Picard: No, Worf! All of you. Don't respond. Don't provoke them further. Keep those weapons down unless you wish to be killed.
Nayrok: Do as he says.
Roga: No! Don't. Shoot us. Destroy us. Do what you have to do. But you will not ignore us. Go on, do it!
Roga: Cowards.
Picard: Yes, and you are not programmed to murder cowards. So if they will not fight back, what will you do?
Roga: We will not go back.
Nayrok: You are programmed to survive. You can survive at the Lunar Five settlement.
Roga: To survive is not enough. To simply exist is not enough.
Troi: Roga, tell them what you want.
Roga: We want our lives back. We want to come home.
Nayrok: I am not prepared to negotiate under threat, Danar, but if you will put down your weapons and return peaceably to Lunar Five, I would be willing.
Roga: Mister Prime Minister, with all due respect, you will have to force us. Or at least try.
Nayrok: Captain, you must do something. Call your ship.
Picard: Quite right, Prime Minister. Enterprise, prepare to beam the away team back.
Riker: At your command, Captain.
Nayrok: Picard, you can't leave us like this.
Picard: I have all the information I need for our report. Your prisoner has been returned to you and you have a decision to make. Whether to try to force them back or welcome them home. In your own words, this is not our affair. We cannot interfere in the natural course of your society's development, and I'd say it's likely to develop significantly in the next several minutes. It's been an interesting visit. When you're ready for membership, the Federation will be pleased to reconsider your application. Mister Riker, four to beam up.
Riker: Aye, sir.
Riker: Success, Captain?
Picard: Number One, will you note in our report that if the government of Angosia survives the night, we will offer them Federation assistance in their efforts to reprogram their veterans.
Riker: And if the government doesn't survive?
Picard: I have a feeling they will choose to. Mister Crusher, set coordinates for Starbase Lya Three.
Wesley: Coordinates set, Captain.
Picard: Engage.