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January 1, 1990
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45 minutes
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155
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SUMMARY
Stardate: 43462.5. A defecting Romulan warns the Federation about an impending attack by the Romulans, who are secretly establishing bases within the Neutral Zone.
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An interstellar tragedy
Written by
kimmy on 2018-05-09
★
★
★
★
★
Season 3 sees Ronald D. Moore joining the writing team and he will become very important for the rest of the Star Trek franchise. His second script for TNG hits all the good marks, with relentless tension, sharp dialogue, humor where it's needed, and a final twist that ends in a tragedy. James Sloyan's portrayal of the Romulan defector and his pain at the idea he will never see his family again is one that should stay long in the memory of TNG fans. War means death and suffering: the story as it is told here, and particularly its end, points to the fact that TNG is changing and is moving beyond its early template characterized by happy endings. The episode also includes Picard training Data in how to act Shakespeare in the holodeck!
Alumni-spotting:
Ron Moore will also create a little show called Battlestar Galactica, where he will attempt to do everything he couldn't do on Star Trek!
The quote:
Jarok: "How do you allow Klingon peta'Q to walk around in a Starfleet uniform?"
Worf: "You are lucky this is not a Klingon ship. We know how to deal with spies."
Jarok: "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."
TRANSCRIPT
[English camp at Agincourt]
(The Life of Henry V, by William Shakespeare, Act IV Scene 1, but with Alexander Court missing, along with some dialogue)
WILLIAMS: (Patrick Stewart with his Yorkshire accent) 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: (as Henry) 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 honourable.
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 programme. 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 [OC]: Riker to Picard. Sorry to interrupt, sir.
PICARD: Go ahead, Number One.
RIKER [OC]: Sensors are picking up an
[Bridge]
RIKER: Unidentified craft in the Neutral Zone.
[English camp at Agincourt]
RIKER [OC]: 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 programme and clear.
DATA: Captain, why should a king wish to pass as a commoner? If he is the leader, should he not be leading?
[Corridor]
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?
[Bridge]
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 [OC]: Federation ship, do you read? I require urgent assistance.
PICARD: This is Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the USS
SETAL [OC]: Federation ship. Please, help me. Requesting asylum. Under pursuit.
RIKER: Pursuit?
WORF: Visual range. On screen, Captain.
(A big mean warbird decloaks behind the little green ship, and opens fire)
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 [on viewscreen]: Federation craft. Please, you must help me!
PICARD: We are moving to intercept. Maintain your course and power.
(The picture breaks up. The little ship has been hit)
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 kilometres. Mister La Forge, prepare to extend
[Engineering]
PICARD [OC]: Our shields around the Romulan scout ship.
LAFORGE: At that range, the shields won't be able to take much punishment, Captain.
[Bridge]
DATA: Five kilometres, sir.
RIKER: All stop.
PICARD: Extend shields.
LAFORGE [OC]: Shields in place.
[Engineering]
LAFORGE: We've got the scout ship, Captain.
[Bridge]
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
(The warbird does a 180 and cloaks)
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 [OC]: Aye, sir.
RIKER: Mister Worf.
PICARD: Mister Data, lock onto the scout ship. Take it in tow.
[Transporter room]
RIKER: Energise.
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.
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.
[Observation lounge]
SETAL: The humiliating defeat at the Battle of Cheron has not been forgotten. The new leaders have vowed to discard 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.
(Worf, Setal and guard leave)
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 Counsellor 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
(And the scout ship goes Ka-boom!)
[Sickbay]
(Beverly is treating Setal's wounds)
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.
(Worf leaves)
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.
[Guest quarters]
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.
(Riker leaves)
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.
(He takes a sip, has a quick look around, then sits on the bed and takes an orange disc from his boot)
[Bridge]
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 neutralise 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
[Ready room]
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 [on monitor]: 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 scepticism, 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 [OC]: Yes, Captain.
PICARD: Please come to my Ready room.
WORF [OC]: Aye, sir. On my way.
[Bridge]
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.
(She nods)
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.
[Ready room]
HADEN [on monitor]: 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 metre 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.
(Data leaves)
PICARD: Now, if these men do not die well, it will be a black matter for the king that led them to it.
[Debriefing room]
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.
[Bridge]
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.
(Worf leaves)
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.
[Engineering]
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.
[Ready room]
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 ionisation 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.
[Ten Forward]
(Data is at a table, staring at Setal sitting by the window)
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 favourite 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.
[Corridor]
COMPUTER: Programme complete.
DATA: Run programme.
(the holodeck doors open)
DATA: After you.
[Holodeck]
(It is a landscape of bizarre rock formations under a massive moon, and its smaller companion)
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 programme.
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.
[Ready room]
HADEN [on monitor]: 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.
(Setal, now Jarok, enters with a guard)
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 realises 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.
[Observation lounge]
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.
[Bridge]
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 ionisation 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 kilometre 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.
(Jarok and his escort enter)
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 [OC]: I hear you, Commander.
WORF: Two Romulan warships uncloaking. Coordinates
(He's interrupted by impacts to the shields)
WORF: Shields holding.
RIKER: Damage?
LAFORGE [OC]: Minor damage in the secondary hull.
[Engineering]
LAFORGE: Power transfer fields may be pinched off.
[Bridge]
LAFORGE [OC]: 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 [on viewscreen]: 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 [on viewscreen]: But, Captain, as you can see, there is no incursion.
PICARD: And the matter of the unidentified subspace radio emissions, and the ionisation disturbances?
TOMALAK [on viewscreen]: Ah, you must mean our orbiting probe. We are studying Nelvana Three for archaeological research.
PICARD: With a cloaked satellite?
TOMALAK [on viewscreen]: 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 [on viewscreen]: Without even an apology, Captain?
PICARD: If an apology will do, then I offer it.
TOMALAK [on viewscreen]: I'm afraid it won't, so I will save you the humiliation.
PICARD: Get to it, Tomalak.
TOMALAK [on viewscreen]: You see, Picard, after we dissect your Enterprise for every precious bit of information, I intend to display its broken hull in the centre 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 [on viewscreen]: 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 [on viewscreen]: No, Captain Picard, I expect you won't. You have thirty seconds to decide.
PICARD: I do not require one, Tomalak.
TOMALAK [on viewscreen]: 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 honourable, they are prepared to give their lives. Are you prepared to die today, Tomalak?
TOMALAK [on viewscreen]: I expected more from you than an idle threat, Picard.
PICARD: Then you shall have it. Mister Worf.
WORF: Aye, sir.
(Three mean Klingon vessels uncloak around the Enterprise and Romulans)
WORF: Klingon warships armed and ready, sir.
PICARD: What shall it be, Tomalak?
TOMALAK [on viewscreen]: You will still not survive our assault.
PICARD: You will not survive ours. Shall we die together?
TOMALAK [on viewscreen]: I look forward to our next meeting, Captain.
WORF: Romulan disruptors powering down, sir.
(The warbirds cloak and leave)
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.
[Guest quarters]
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.
2024-09-11 10:13:37 -
Pike:
Added the transcript.
