Starship Mine ( episode ) On an evacuated USS " Enterprise " - D , Picard plays a deadly game of cat - and - mouse with terrorists who want to steal explosive toxic waste from the warp core as a lethal beam sweeps the ship . Summary . Teaser . The is at the Remmler Array where they are scheduled for a baryon sweep , a maintenance cycle that removes large amounts of radiation that builds up in the hull s of starship s that travel for extended periods at warp . The sweep is lethal to organic matter , so there is a flurry of activity as the entire ship is being evacuated prior to the sweep , and various last - minute problems ( such as slow progress on Deck 7 and a lack of storage for Dr . Crusher ' s living tissue samples ) are being quickly addressed . Captain Picard is less than enthusiastic over the visit , as he has to meet with Commander Calvin " Hutch " Hutchinson , a Starfleet officer known for his gift of gab . Coincidentally , Data is studying the concept of " small talk " , and during their turbolift ride to the bridge , Data tries to break the silence this way ; Picard recommends that Data study Hutchinson so as to learn from an expert on the subject . Arriving on the bridge , Picard is met by both La Forge and Worf , speaking simultaneously . Worf reports that Picard must give his authorization to disable command functions during the sweep . Then La Forge informs Picard that he needs to install additional field diverter s to protect the primary systems on board , such as the computer core and the bridge . He needs the equipment because the amount of radiation in the hull is so high ( due to the " Enterprise " s high amount of warp use – double the average ) that the baryon sweep may be more intense than normal . Picard agrees and instructs the ship ' s computer to shut down the primary systems in 30 minutes , allowing enough time for the diverters to be installed first . Worf then asks permission to be excused from Hutchinson ' s reception . When La Forge witnesses Picard agree , he attempts to do the same only to be denied because Picard can ' t excuse all of the senior staff , and Worf asked first . Picard confirms the time of the sweep to Orton , the station administrator , and takes one last look around the bridge . He then sees a crew walking onto the bridge to install some equipment . Assuming that was the crew that La Forge ordered , he thinks nothing of it and transport s to Hutchinson ' s reception at the Arkaria Base . Act One . True to form , Hutchinson greets each member of the crew and talks about horn fowl mating , weather conditions , and horseback riding with little interaction from them . Data , following Picard ' s advice , is studying Hutchinson from afar : mimicking his hand movements and facial expressions . Briefly practicing on Crusher and Riker , he appears to be over - doing it , but Riker is quite amused . Picard hears about the horseback riding and sees a way to escape from the meeting – the damp weather and isolation on the trails sounds perfect – and returns to the " Enterprise " to get his saddle . After retrieving his saddle , Picard walks to the transporter room with minutes before the sweep is to occur , but stops when he notices an open ODN junction with a severed ODN line . He encounters Devor , who says he is performing last minute maintenance to the systems before the baryon sweep begins . Picard agrees to let Devor get back to his work and starts to walk away . Devor attempts to attack Picard from behind with a laser welder , but Picard disables him with a Vulcan nerve pinch . Picard then runs to the transporter room with 30 seconds to go before the main computer shuts down the primary systems . Picard then sees several other people on the ship , but successfully hides from them in order to escape . Meanwhile , the baryon sweep has begun , starting at the warp nacelle s . He enters the transporter room and starts the transporter , but he is too late and it immediately shuts down once he stands on the transporter pad . He is now trapped on the " Enterprise " . Act Two . Data is continuing his small talk on Orton , still with little success while Hutchinson talks to Riker . After a little bit of maneuvering , he introduces Hutchinson to Data , who has been practicing Hutchinson ' s technique and is now ready to engage Hutchinson himself in conversation . They hit it off . Picard drags Devor to sickbay and asks him what he is doing on his ship , threatening him with a phaser , and then the laser welder when Devor tells him that his phaser wouldn ' t work . Devor refuses to help him ; after all , Picard won ' t kill him because he is a Starfleet officer . Picard instead knocks him out with a hypospray . Picard takes Devor ' s communicator to listen in on the intruders ' communications . Picard walks through the " Enterprise " where he is captured by Kiros and taken to main engineering . At Arkaria Base , the other crew watch with fascination as Hutchinson and Data continue to talk : Hutchinson is a pro , but Data is a fast learner with inhuman patience . Just then , La Forge notices unusual energy readings underneath a reception table and asks a member of the staff if he can take a look at it . The staff tells him there ' s nothing to worry about . Riker is wondering why the staff is trying to move La Forge from the table . Orton then pulls out a disruptor and shoots La Forge . An accomplice uses another disruptor to shoot Hutchinson . The base has been overtaken in a surprise attack . Act Three . On the " Enterprise " , Picard meets Kelsey and her crew , who are attempting to steal trilithium resin from the " Enterprise " s warp core . Picard tells her that he is Mot , the ship ' s barber and that he got lost on the ship trying to collect his saddle . Picard is held under guard by Satler but eyes the field diverter with interest . Hutchinson was killed by the surprise attack in Arkaria Base , and La Forge is seriously injured . The rest are being held hostage but are trying to assess the situation with help from Deanna Troi ' s empathic abilities . The assailants have made no demands or claims , which indicates a strategic rather than psychological motive , and their anxiety indicates they ' re off schedule ( probably because La Forge blew their cover ) . They ' re improvising , so if they plan well , they could seize the initiative . Data recommends modifying La Forge ' s VISOR to produce a hypersonic pulse , knocking out everyone in the room near - instantly except himself . Riker agrees but cautions to proceed covertly . Kelsey and company still don ' t know that Picard has knocked out Devor and taken his laser welder . He uses this to make a move . Keeping the tool behind his back , he maneuvers it into an inlet underneath an engineering console and fires into it . This produces an overheat and activates the emergency coolant systems . Picard then uses the distraction to make an escape into the Jefferies tube s as the isolation door begins to close . Before he leaves , though , he fires on and shorts out Kelsey ' s field diverter : rendering Engineering unsafe from the sweep . Satler follows him . Through the tubes , Picard is attempting to escape but finds the baryon sweep behind the door in front of him . Act Four . Satler follows down the same corridor but only finds a closed door and Picard ' s jacket . By the time he realizes it ' s covering a hole in the floor that Picard had cut to escape , the baryon sweep passes the closed door . Satler is heard to scream as the baryon sweep consumes him ; Picard pauses briefly at this , a look of regret on his face that the man ' s death was so painful . Picard himself prepares to make a stand , taking a crossbow from Worf ' s quarters . The communicator then relays Kelsey ' s plans . With Engineering no longer safe , they improvise a device to move the trilithium resin to Ten Forward , the last place to be scanned by the baryon sweep . Picard jumps on the communicator and warns her not to move such an unstable substance , but she refuses , saying that if he hadn ' t disabled her field diverter , she wouldn ' t have to improvise . She also knows Picard is a Starfleet officer since he ' d left his combadge behind in the tube . Picard responds by making it difficult to travel to Ten Forward : cutting the rungs in the Jefferies tubes and forcing Kelsey into a longer , more random , alternative route . She and Picard continue to verbally fence through the communicator , trying to intimidate each other . On the station , Crusher uses a request for water to relay to Troi that the hypersonic pulse is almost ready , but a bright light that will appear from the VISOR when she finishes the configuration ; she needs a distraction . Commander Riker creates a diversion by starting a fistfight with Orton . Riker is knocked out , but it works . Crusher finishes the modification without further incident . Pomet is searching for Picard when he ' s struck in the leg by a crossbow bolt . He quickly passes out . The substance that had been applied to the tip turns out to be a tranquilizer which will keep him unconscious for a while . But as Picard attempts to extract the bolt , Kiros appears , laser welder drawn at him . Act Five . Word of " Mot ' s " capture is relayed to Kelsey as Kiros leads Picard away . Meanwhile , Kelsey and Neil are making their way through the Jefferies tubes . But when Neil passes the trilithium to Kelsey and explains how to unload it , she promptly points her welder at him . When she finally emerges in Deck 10 and rejoins Kiros , Kelsey claims Neil got caught by the baryon sweep . Kiros notes Picard shot Pomet . Picard says that he is still alive but he will not be for much longer ; they cannot go back for him as the baryon sweep is entering his location and will kill him . Back on the planet , a signal indicating an incoming ship is approaching . Data and the others realize it ' s probably the terrorists ' escape craft . Riker relays instructions to Data , the only one who will remain conscious after the pulse activates : stop that ship . Crusher activates the hypersonic pulse , and it works as planned . Data soon proceeds unhindered to the control panel . As Kelsey , Kiros , and Picard approach Ten Forward , Picard decides to reveal his true identity , hoping to be taken as a hostage , but Kelsey reveals that the trilithium is her sole objective . She ' s not a terrorist as Picard had suspected but a merciless thief who will steal and sell to anyone willing to pay ; her only motive is profit . As they enter Ten Forward , though , Picard has another trap ready . He steps over several strips along the floor , but Kiros steps on one . It promptly bursts into an intense flash , stunning her . Kelsey is knocked back as well , and she drops the trilithium . She and Picard fight even as the baryon sweep finally enters Ten Forward . Kelsey eventually fights her way free of Picard and grabs the trilithium container , but Picard makes a grab for it also . Finally , Kelsey knocks Picard away and holds him at gunpoint , freeing her to be transported to her ship . But with the sweep approaching , Picard ' s main concern is shutting it off . After several attempts to contact the station and have the sweep terminated , it finally shuts off with mere meters to spare . Data asks about the ship that had transported someone off the " Enterprise " , to which Picard replies that they " " won ' t get very far . " " He reveals that he removed the stabilizer during the scuffle , and watches through the forward windows as Kelsey attempts to escape , only to have the resin destabilize and destroy her ship . The explosion rocks the " Enterprise " slightly . Picard is in sickbay where he is being treated for the injuries he incurred with the fight in Ten Forward with Kelsey . Picard is more concerned with getting back his saddle , which he left on Deck 7 after he was attempting to transport off the " Enterprise " before the baryon sweep began . Worf finds the saddle , which had been placed in a maintenance locker , and Picard says he regrets not being able to use it on an actual horse . " " Of course " " , Worf replies . Memorable quotes . " " . . . It has been quite a day , has it not ? " " " " I am attempting to fill a silent moment with non - relevant conversation . " " " " Small talk . " " " " Captain , request permission to be excused from Commander Hutchinson ' s reception . " " " " Permission granted . I wish I could excuse myself as well . " " " " Uh , Captain , permission to . . . " " " " Mister La Forge , I cannot excuse my entire senior staff . Mister Worf beat you to it . " " " " You ' re Starfleet . You won ' t kill me . " " " " You sure ? " ( stuns Devor ) " It seems you ' re right . " " " " I have to admit that it has a sort of strange fascination – how long can two people talk about " nothing ? " " " Who are you ? " " " " My name is Mot . I ' m uh , I . . . I ' m the barber . " " " " Satler , get down here and uh . . . keep an eye on our barber . " " " " You keep a saddle on board the " Enterprise " ? " " " " I only wish I had the opportunity to use it on a horse . " " " " Of course . " " " " Sir , an unidentified scout ship has just beamed someone off the " Enterprise " . Do you know anything about it ? " " ( holds up the dynamic stabilizer ) " " I know they won ' t get very far . . . " " Links and references . References . 2365 ; 2369 ; appellation ; Arkaria ; Arkaria Base ; Arkarian horn fowl ; barber ; baryon s ; baryon sweep ; Celsius ; Conklin ; crossbow ; dynamic stabilizer ; Edwell ; egalitarianism ; emergency hand actuator ; emergency turbolift ; etymology ; field diverter ; Gaspar VII ; heating element ; hypersonic pulse ; hypospray ; Jefferies tube ; Kelsey ' s starship ; laser torch ; ; magnetic pole ; ; Mot ; noble ; ODN interface ; optical transducer ; ornithology ; pain receptor ; Remmler Array ; Riskian cheese pastry ; saddle ; Sheliak ; shuttle drone ; sickbay ; stable ; Starbase 97 ; Starfleet ; Starfleet Medical ; surname ; tissue sample ; trend ; trilithium ; trilithium resin ; turbolift ; Tyrellia ; Tyrellian ; Tyrellian crewmen ; Tyrellian laser - art ; VISOR ; Vulcan nerve pinch