Suspicions ( episode ) Dr . Crusher violates Starfleet regulations and medical ethics when she investigates the death of a Ferengi scientist . Summary . Teaser . Guinan visits Dr . Crusher in her quarters , complaining of tennis elbow . Crusher tells her she had better see Dr . Selar instead and then breaks the news that she is no longer a doctor on the ship and will be facing a court martial soon . Act One . Crusher expresses her frustration at the next few weeks as she will face Admiral . She clearly disagrees with the circumstances of the impending end of her career . In her usual style , Guinan insists on her elbow getting treated to calm Crusher down and asks about what happened . A Ferengi scientist , Dr . Reyga , has created a metaphasic shield ing technique and had presented it at the Altine Conference , but his unorthodox methods have left most scientists in the field ignoring his work . Dr . Crusher decided to play " scientific diplomat " and invite other scientists in the field to come to the and view a demonstration of the doctor ' s prototype . Only a few scientists were willing to come : a Takaran scientist Jo ' Bril , a married couple Christopher and T ' Pan , and a Klingon , Kurak . Crusher expected disbelief from the group , but the fact that they came made her hopeful . She gathered the group in the science lab and began by stating the vision that the group had for the potential benefits . Furthermore , Reyga was willing to share rights with whoever helped him . Reyga plans to perform a test using an " Enterprise " - D shuttle , the " Justman " . It is to be fitted with Dr . Reyga ' s experimental shield and flown into a nearby star , Veytan , a lofty goal as it is a particularly superdense corona , but Reyga is confident . As they are all skeptical , they decide that someone other than the Ferengi should pilot the shuttle . Jo ' Bril volunteers and Reyga thanks him . At the test flight , they all watch from the bridge as Jo ' Bril enters the Veytan ' s corona . Everything seems to be going as planned until suddenly Jo ' Bril becomes short of breath . There are increased levels of baryon particles . He barely pilots the shuttle out of the star and is beamed on the " Enterprise " before dying in sickbay . Act Two . Guinan says Crusher shouldn ' t take it too hard since she wasn ' t in control . Reminded of what Captain Picard said to her during the autopsy she performed on Jo ' Bril , she recalled the frustration she felt at the unexplained nature of his death . His anatomy was very different from other humanoids . In fact , she cannot understand his physiology at all , especially why his s seem to be decaying at such a slow rate . He also has no discrete organs and they are all distributed equally throughout his body , which should make him incredibly resistant to injury . Meanwhile , Data and La Forge analyze the " Justman " . The plasma flow regulator s , the field emitter coil s , and radial force compensators were all functioning normally . La Forge found the damage to the hull , confirming the shield was breached by the radiation . Reyga is livid and cannot accept that the shield was at fault . Gathering the scientists in the science lab , Crusher explains she has no choice but to end the visit . Reyga pleads with the other scientists to allow him a second test , but meets intense opposition , including Crusher , who refuses to put anyone at further risk . He seems determined to prove himself and leaves . A few hours later , he is found dead from a plasma discharge . Act Three . Worf judges the death was a suicide , but Beverly is incredulous as he had tightly clutched his hand on the plasma infuser instead of dropping it , the normal response . She plans on performing an autopsy on him , but , after speaking to Picard about how unusual the death was , she learns the family won ' t permit it and arrangements have already been made to have his body returned home so they can perform the Ferengi death ritual . Frustrated , Dr . Crusher explains the situation to Ogawa and decides to perform an investigation of her own . She confronts Christopher and T ' Pan in their quarters , and Christopher becomes incensed . Eventually , he mentions that Kurak and Reyga had a fiery argument shortly before his death . Dr . Crusher then confronts Kurak , much to her own peril , as the Klingon scientist throws her violently against the wall . As she determines Kurak also did not murder Reyga , she finds herself stumped . Knowing she will be disobeying a direct order , she performs an autopsy on Reyga , believing that it will answer her questions . . . and can find nothing . She informs Picard , who is extremely disappointed . Picard has no choice but to relieve her from duty and report her conduct to Starfleet Medical . Guinan encourages Dr . Crusher to continue her investigation , as she has nothing left to lose . Act Four . Crusher finds Data in the " Justman " making sure it wasn ' t permanently damaged by the radiation . She asks his help to determine a possible sabotage scenario . Data deduces that , if it happened , it must have been done during Jo ' Bril ' s test flight , and it ' s unlikely he did it himself to put himself in danger . Another scenario is that a phased ionic pulse beamed directly into the projection matrix would result in a temporarily system malfunction . A tetryon field would form , causing a malfunction . Realizing she could confirm the tetryon field from Jo ' Bril ' s tissue , she heads for sickbay . On the way , Riker cautions her from doing more damage to herself , but she tells him she knows what she ' s doing . Ogawa finds her attempting to access the computer , but her access was revoked . Crusher tries to leave without involving her , but she decides to help anyway , activating the computer for her . They perform an additional examination of Jo ' Bril ' s body and confirm the tetryon particles . It ' s not conclusive evidence , Ogawa reminds her , but it does indicate there may have been sabotage of the metaphasic shield . She decides to take the " Justman " with Dr . Reyga ' s modifications into the star herself , and leaves the " Enterprise " while the bridge crew watches from afar . Act Five . Picard urges her to come back , but she is determined . She ' s already isolated the navigational system and is too close to the star for Worf to attempt to stop the shuttle . Picard tries to reason with her to no avail even as the temperature rises . After a few minutes , it appears that the shield works . Crusher is delighted and tells Picard that one of the three remaining scientists must be the murderer . She asks that he confine them to quarters when the communication drops . Inside the " Justman " , Jo ' Bril emerges from his hiding place armed with a phaser , and tells Dr . Crusher that his species are able to control their metabolic function to the point where they can simulate death . Crusher realizes he heard all her plans when he was in lying on a slab in the morgue . He admits that the metaphasic shield is a reality , and that he plans to simulate a warp core breach in the shuttle , wait until the " Enterprise " leaves ( as its sensor s cannot penetrate the star ' s corona sphere ) , and then take her and the shuttle back to his homeworld , where he will perfect the technique and sell it as his own for a weapon . Crusher then engages him in hand - to - hand combat over the phaser . Dr . Crusher ' s self - defense training prove far superior to Jo ' Bril ' s , as she delivers a painful round - house kick , causing him to fall down , with possession of the phaser . After Jo ' Bril is down , Beverly grabs the phaser he was holding and shoots him , blowing a hole in his torso . To her shock , this doesn ' t slow him down at all , only serving to annoy him . Crusher quickly adjusts the setting of her phaser and shoots him again , this time , shooting to kill ; as Jo ' Bril is vaporized by her phaser fire . She immediately adjusts heading and heads back to the " Enterprise " . On board the " Enterprise " they are beginning a search for shuttle debris when the " Justman " emerges from the star ' s corona and Dr . Crusher tells them she finally has the answers about Reyga ' s murder . She returns to the ship , where she is reinstated to active duty . She goes to Ten Forward and replicates the latest design in tennis racket for Guinan after all the help she had given Crusher . She gives it to Guinan and tells her that she will never get tennis elbow again – but Guinan admits she has never played tennis . Memorable quotes . " " Well , you better go to sickbay . I think Dr . Selar ' s on duty . " " " " I don ' t want to see Dr . Selar , I always see you . I ' m very particular about my doctors . " " " " Well , you better get a new one because I ' m not a doctor on this ship anymore . " " " " I can hear Admiral Brooks now telling me how I ' ve disgraced Starfleet Medical . Then , a leisurely day and a half before the formal inquiry begins and my career ends . " " " " Beverly . . . my elbow . " " " " You know , I ' ve never been to a formal inquiry . " " " " Well , I ' ll see if I can arrange one for you . All you have to do is disobey orders , violate medical ethics and cause an interstellar incident . " " " " Well , I guess that would do it . " " " " I saw . . . the sun ! " " " " I don ' t want you to get involved in this . " " " Is that an order , doctor ? " " " " Yes ! " " " " Too bad you ' re not my boss anymore . " " " " Thank you , doctor . This looks like a great racket but , uh . . . I don ' t play tennis . Never have . " " Links and references . References . Altine Conference ; autonomic functions scan ; baryon ; board of inquiry ; ; Celsius ; cortical stimulator ; Earth ; Ferengi ; Ferengi death ritual ; Ferengi government ; field emitter coil ; formal inquiry ; " Justman " ; Kelvin ; Klingon ; medical tricorder ; metaphasic shield ; " " ; Mintakan tapestry ; medical ethics ; morgue ; painting ; phased ionic pulse ; plasma infuser ; poison ; polarity ; Qo ' noS ; rad ; science lab ; science station ; Selar ; sextant ; sickbay ; Starbase 23 ; Starfleet Medical ; subspace morphology ; subspace technology ; subspace theoretician ; Takara ; Takaran ; tennis ; tennis elbow ; tennis racket ; tetryon ; tetryon radiation ; Type 6 shuttlecraft ; unnamed Ferengi ship ; Vaytan ; Vulcan Science Academy