The Bonding ( episode ) Worf decides to take into his House the child of a slain subordinate , but the child is having trouble accepting his mother ' s death , especially when she mysteriously reappears . Summary . Teaser . The encounters a planet that appears to be uninhabited . Captain Picard sends an away team to investigate , led by Worf . Picard learns that the planet was once inhabited by a race called the Koinonian s , but due to a war , every last person on the planet was annihilated ; the civilization seems to have killed itself off . An accident happens to the away team ; one of the members , " Enterprise " archaeologist Lieutenant Marla Aster , is killed when an unexploded mine detonates in a ceremonial chamber . She is pronounced dead upon arrival at the ship . Act One . Picard and Worf feel understandably very disturbed by this senseless death . The captain learns that the deceased crew member is survived only by a twelve - year old son , Jeremy . The son is now an orphan , as his father died when the boy was a child . Worf offers to go with the captain to tell Jeremy since he was the away team ' s leader . Picard says it is unnecessary , but does send another away team to the surface , headed by Chief Engineer Geordi La Forge , to find out what happened . On the bridge , Wesley Crusher tells Commander Riker that he understands what Jeremy will be going through since his father also died in the line of duty under Picard ' s command . Accompanied by Counselor Troi – expressing to her his disapproval of the policy allowing families on board precisely because situations like this on the turbolift ride – the captain reaches the classroom s and he breaks the news to the boy , who takes it bravely , but muses that he is completely alone now . Picard reminds him that on the starship " Enterprise " no one is ever alone . Act Two . Data finds Riker drinking in Ten Forward and asks why Human s ask how " well " one knows the deceased . Riker explains by using Lieutenant Yar ' s death . Data says he feels more loss when talking about Yar , and Riker says that is exactly how Humans feel when knowing someone close as opposed to someone one does not know well . Data muses why one should feel the same sense of loss when dealing with other people ' s death . Riker says that if that were true , Human history would be a lot less bloody . In Picard ' s ready room , La Forge reports that five more mines , left over from the Koinonion wars , were found by the away team . However , unlike the one that killed Aster , these ones had recently been pulled up from the ground and defused despite there being no signs of any life on the planet . Worf still feels very unsettled with the situation , understandably as he was also orphaned by parents who died in the line of duty . He feels awful for the senseless death of the crew member and frustrated that there is no enemy he can fight / kill to avenge her . While speaking to Troi in the " Enterprise " s computer access room , he has the idea of protecting the boy through a Klingon ritual that will bond the two together for life . Although Troi advises against showing too much affection to him so soon after his mother ' s death , Worf introduces himself to Jeremy . Meanwhile , Dr . Crusher has called Wesley to her office so that he can talk to Jeremy about the loss of a parent . Dr . Crusher reasons that having someone not that much older to talk to would help Jeremy . Wesley asks his mother if she ever thinks about his dad . He says sometimes he can ' t remember what he looked like and then there are days like this one where he can remember every detail of the day , down to the last hug and Picard ' s eyes when he had to break the news . On the bridge , Data reports an odd energy buildup on the planet ' s surface . The energy expands upwards from the planet , touching the ship . Soon afterward , Jeremy is alone in his quarters watching old videos of his parents on a PADD , when his mother appears to him , solid and seemingly real . Act Three . Marla explains to Jeremy that the crew " made a mistake " and that she is not dead . Then she tells him that they will live on the planet , in a home , like on Earth . She promises that everything is alright . At that moment , Worf enters to check up on Jeremy , and summons Picard and a security team to deal with the situation . The entity posing as Marla Aster leads Jeremy to the transporter room where she wants Chief O ' Brien to beam them to the surface . Picard and Troi catch up with them . The entity explains that she wants to take Jeremy to the planet , where they will live a happy life . Picard and Troi attempt to reason with her , but she is adamant . They take Jeremy from the transporter room by force , and the entity vanishes . Act Four . Troi comforts Jeremy as best she can , taking him back to his quarters , but the entity isn ' t gone for long , returning and transforming Jeremy ' s quarters into a facsimile of his house on Earth and even recreates his pet cat , Patches . She repeats her desire to return to the planet with Jeremy . Troi explains to Picard that the entity doesn ' t understand why there is such resistance from the crew . It only wishes to make Jeremy happy . To thwart her efforts , La Forge remodulates the shields to block the energy from the planet ; she , and the recreation of the house , again disappears . With a surge of power from the planet , the energy being enters the ship again , takes down a few security officers , and transforms Jeremy ' s quarters once more . Act Five . La Forge gives the command to shut down all power to the transporters because even though the entities can come and go , Jeremy is flesh and blood and must use a transporter to leave the ship . Picard talks to the entity , trying to establish its motives . It explains that there were once two races of Koinonians – one of energy , one of matter . The physical beings living on the planet engaged in a massive civil war while the energy beings refused to intervene / interfere . After the physical Koinonians destroyed themselves , the energy beings felt a terrible guilt that they might have been able to avert the tragedy if they had acted . They vowed never to let the conflict hurt another person , and feel responsible for the accident that killed Jeremy ' s mother . Therefore , they offer to raise him on the planet , and cannot comprehend why the " Enterprise " officers refuse to let them take him . Picard summons Worf and also Wesley to help explain his position – that Humans must learn to deal with loss in their own way , and that they become stronger people overall because of it . He and Troi argue with the entity : how would he live on the planet with no friends , no career , no family ? Wesley explains that when his father died , he hated Picard for a time because he survived the mission that killed Jack Crusher , but he has since got over his anger . Hearing this , Jeremy is able to express his anger at Worf but quickly understands that he is really just angry that his mother is gone and it was not actually Worf ' s fault . Worf tells how his own parents were killed at Khitomer , and he was raised by Humans – then makes his offer to perform the R ' uustai ritual with Jeremy , a ceremony that would make him a member of Worf ' s House . The energy being , seeing that Jeremy will be well looked after , leaves the ship . Later , Worf and Jeremy go through the R ' uustai ritual in Worf ' s quarters , uniting their houses and making them brothers . Deleted scenes . Several scenes were filmed but later cut from the episode during editing . These scenes came to light in when " Star Trek " collector Cyril " Patchou " Paciullo ( owning several more " The Next Generation " episodes work prints ) uploaded the contents of an early work print VHS tape of the episode to the internet . Paciullo submitted his tapes to , who in turn brought him into contact with CBS . However , this tape was discovered too late for the deleted scenes of the episode to be incorporated in the remastered episode , or otherwise be included on the 2013 TNG Season 3 Blu - ray release , as was his tape of companion episode . Likewise , his tape of the second season episode , was uncovered far too late for any inclusion of the deleted scenes on its 2012 corresponding release . Still , his tape of the fourth season episode was just in time uncovered for the deleted scenes , remastered in high definition , to be incorporated as part of the bonus features " Deleted Scenes " on the later that year released TNG Season 4 Blu - ray set . Memorable quotes . " " Away team is aboard , captain . One dead on arrival . " " " " How do you get used to it . . . telling them ? " " " " You hope you never do . " " " " He is an orphan ; I am an orphan . He will understand . " " " " I ' ve always believed that having children on a starship is a very . . . " questionable " policy . Serving on a starship means . . . accepting certain risks , certain dangers . . . Did Jeremy Aster make that choice ? " " " " Death and loss are an integral part of life everywhere – leaving him on Earth would " not " have protected him ! " " " " No . . . but the Earth isn ' t likely to be ordered to the Neutral Zone , or to repel a Romulan attack ! It was my command which sent his mother to her death – she understood her mission and my duty . . . Will he ? " " " " I ' m all alone now . " " " " Jeremy , on the starship " Enterprise " , no one is alone . . . No one . " " " " Let ' s just hope it doesn ' t blow us to kingdom come while it ' s figuring out how to blow " us " to kingdom come . " " " " How well did you know Lt . Aster ? " " " " We spent some time together . Not very well . How well did you know her ? " " " " Why do you ask ? " " " " Well you just asked me . " " " " But why do you ask the question ? Since her death , I have been asked several times to define " how well " I knew Lt . Aster . And I heard you ask Wesley on the bridge " how well " he knew Jeremy . Does the question of familiarity have some bearing on death ? " " " " Do you remember how we all felt when Tasha died ? " " " " I do not sense the same feelings of absence I associate with Lt . Yar . Although , I cannot say precisely why . " " " " Just Human nature , Data . " " " " Human nature , sir ? " " " " We feel a loss more intensely when it ' s a friend . " " " " But should not the feelings run just as deep , regardless of who has died ? " " " " Maybe they should , Data . Maybe if we felt any loss as keenly as we felt the death of one close to us , Human history would be a lot less bloody . " " " " Do you ever think about him , Mom ? " " " " Your father ? Sure , I do . " " " " Sometimes , I can ' t even remember what his face looks like . Scares me . " " " " It happens to all of us , Wes . Sometimes , I cant get his face " out " of my mind . " " " " I cannot seek revenge against an enemy who has turned to dust centuries ago . Her death was senseless . The last victim of a forgotten war . " " Links and references . References . 2354 ; 2361 ; anti - grav lift ; antimatter ; antimatter containment field ; antimatter containment pod ; archaeology and anthropology officer ; archaeology ; Aster ; away mission ; away team ; candle ; cavern ; ceremonial chamber ; clock ; computer access room ; ; ; " d ' k tahg " ; death ; Earth ; Federation ; force field ; Kingdom Come ; Klingon s ; Klingon language ; Koinonian ; Koinonian homeworld ; Koinonian Wars ; M - class ; magnetic flux ; meter ; microscope ; Mogh ; " Much Ado About Nothing " ; non - corporeal ; number one ; painting ; Romulan Neutral Zone ; Romulan s ; R ' uustai ; radiation ; Rushton infection ; school ; sculpture ; security alert ; shield harmonics ; Starfleet ; subspace proximity detonator ; sword ; trap ; tricorder ; tunnel ; Deleted references . Betazed ; Exoarchaeology ; Troi , Ian Andrew