An excellent two-parter; the last until the double length series finale. They say the producer felt a little bad about doing this one because it breaks Roddenberry's rule of "no space pirates." But the best work was done outside of Roddenberry's rules. The show would never have matured and we wouldn't have had the deep complexities of DS9 if they followed Roddenberry's rules. It's kind of hard to take "no space pirates" seriously anyway when that's exactly what the original concept of the Ferengi was playing out as in the early seasons. This was a great little adventure. Kind of Indiana Jonsey, kind of Under Siegey. One of my favorites.
It begins in a seedy bar near Dessica II where most of the main cast is searching for a smooth headed human. That's how Troi describes Picard to the bartender who is completely uncooperative. Worf is having some better luck with a Yridian. He agrees to talk to them under the impression that Riker is trying to track down a man that got his sister pregnant. He's even more willing to talk after they offer him some bribe money. The bartender tries to shut him up anyway, and that's when the group becomes more forceful with Beverly assuming the role of Riker's sister and she's very intimidating. The Yridian agrees to tell them everything in exchange for passage on their ship. He tells them that the smooth headed human came in to confront a group of people about some artifacts and that a fight ensued. Crusher scans the walls in the area where he said the fight started. She finds traces of starfleet uniform fibers and human cellular debris. The Yridian tells them that the man took three of them out before they fired a phaser at him and vaporized him. Troi can tell that he's telling the truth and they're all horrified to think that Picard is dead. Troi later informs Riker of the memorial service that will be held but he is angry and unwilling to let go. Troi is basically trying to be as firm with him as Guinan was in Best of Both Worlds, except she's more upset by his attitude than Guinan was. But he calms down for her. He then gets permission from an admiral to investigate Picard's death. That's more than we saw Picard do when Galen was killed in The Chase, but that was only a single episode. There was more time to kill here and make things seem more official. But the breather in the story that they take isn't a long one and it's sandwiched between the bar scene and the interrogation of the Yridian so it doesn't seem like quite as slow of a start as in other two part episodes. Riker then goes to the Yridian who is enjoying the luxuries of his quarters on the ship. He begins to back out of giving any more information to Riker because the mercenaries in question threatened to kill anyone who talked, which explains the bartender's attitude. But he still tries to get more bribes out of him like a shuttle craft. Riker doesn't waste time though. The Yridian is wanted by the Klingons for various crimes and he threatens to turn him over to them. He tells Riker that the archaeological site they'd all be heading to next is in the Barradas sector. When they get there, there is only one inhabitable planet. Riker takes the away team personally even though Data gives him the same reminders that Riker always used to give Picard about the first officer, which is now Data, leading the away team, not the captain. But Riker overrules this because it's too personal to him. The planet has no inhabitants anymore but they find the dig site where several artifacts are missing and they get the same kind of residue readings that they picked up at the bar.
While they're down there a group of various aliens lead by a Romulan woman attack the away team to grab more artifacts. It's a long and exciting phaser fight scene that's very nail biting. Riker is knocked down and the aliens beam away with him once they clear their way. Their ship, which had been hiding in the planet, fires at the Enterpise. Data follows protocol impeccably, raising shields and following them. But they disappear from their sensors and escape. In the briefing room Geordi explains that they have a coating on their ship that absorbs energy and makes them able to evade sensors. He says he'll start working on modifying their sensors to pick them up anyway. Worf is anxious about just sitting around when Riker has been abducted, but Data insists on returning to the planet since investigating the scene will give them an idea of where they may be going. Worf is not happy about this.
We return to Riker on the mercenary ship which is a piece of junk. They don't have warp power because they'd pushed the engines too hard. A man called Baran is the captain and after he reprimands the crew he turns to question Riker. They have a brief back and forth in which Riker tells Baran that they were just doing a scientific survey of the ruins, but Baran knows better and zaps him with a device on his neck that allows him to give him pain shocks by remote,
much like the set up that Gul Madred used on Picard in Chain Of Command. Everyone on the ship has one of these on their neck and Baran proudly brags about his way of enforcing punishment on the crew. While Baran thinks having a Starfleet officer as a hostage could be an advantage, the other crew members aren't happy about having a him on board and want to be rid of him. One crew member turns around to put in his vote for killing him since he has nothing to offer. It's Picard and Riker is silently stunned. Picard is a little more antagonistic towards Baran than the others. He's going by the name Galen and he behaves hostilely to Riker, fabricating what a bad reputation he has in Starfleet and how much trouble he's been in. Riker plays along and adopts an aloof attitude. While they're bickering, Picard arranges for the ship to malfunction giving Riker a chance to prove himself to the captain as he fixes it and they're back on their way. It's obvious that Baran doesn't like Galen and he warms up to Riker quickly due to his quick thinking. Or, if for nothing else, just to spite Galen.
Back on the planet Data and the others discover that the artifacts are related to Romulans and track the path of the raids on different sites to project where they believe the next one will be on Calder II. Data is skeptical that they'd make a run on it because the planet also has a Starfleet science station posted on it, so he sends a message ahead of them telling them to detain any ships that arrive until they get there. When Picard finds a minute he goes to Riker's quarters to tell him his story. He'd discovered the ransacked ruins on Dessica II and tracked the perpetrators to that bar where they beamed him away with a modified phaser which is why it looked to everyone like he'd been killed. They're using him to appraise the artifacts they find looking for specific Romulan pieces. He's glad that Riker caught on so quickly to the game and encourages him to get on Baran's good side to try and find out what they're wanting with these artifacts. Since Baran doesn't like him, he hasn't been able to find anything out himself. But a rogue Starfleet officer that's willing to betray the Federation may have a better chance. They're interrupted by Baran and Picard quickly stand up and back hands Riker, claiming that he's questioning him since Baran hasn't found out anything about him. Baran gives him a shock with his remote and runs him off. Back on the bridge he announces their next destination of Calder II. Picard chides him for choosing a place that has a Federation outpost on it. Baran is aggravated and the rest of the crew is nervous that he knows so much about the Federation, but Picard had set up a back story for himself as smuggling in the Federation system for years and picking up all kinds of information. While they're headed there the Romulan, Tallera visits Galen to tell him that Baran wants him to move faster on analyzing their latest set of artifacts. Picard has a different rapport with her and he uses her general dislike of Baran to try and find out why they're looking for these Romulan artifacts. She doesn't tell him, but is not hostile to him since he openly questions Baran's leadership style. They arrive at Calder II and at Galen's request they use Riker to contact them and try to get them to lower their shields. They won't do it for him. Baran can tell they are delaying on purpose and orders the outpost to be destroyed. Picard stops their gun man by saying there's no time and modifies their phasers to disable the shields in one shot with a pulse. It works, so they scan for artifacts and start beaming them up. They nearly have them all when the Enterprise shows up and fires on them. Data then hails the vessel to order them to stand down. Baran thinks that Riker had been in contact with them and threatens to kill him if he doesn't contact the Enterpise and tell them to leave.
Riker contacts Data and tells him to disengage. Data logically explains that he can't and that they are committing criminal acts. He tries to pull rank on Data, ordering him to retreat which Data only finds confusing. Before Data can protest any further he cuts off the hail and explains to Baran that he can use his access codes to force the Enterprise to drop its shields. More of that blessed, far reaching influence of Wrath Of Khan! Worf tells Data what Riker is trying to do, but Data knows that Riker would be aware that his codes would be changed if he were to become compromised as he is now. But he catches on and orders Worf to drop the shields. Worf is unwilling and Data has to be forceful with him about it. When the shields are down, the mercenary vessel fires at the Enterprise's warp nacelle. To be continued...
This episode is action packed. They don't spend a lot of time on dialogue and there's no need since the story is pretty straight forward. It leaves you breathless almost from beginning to end. You know Picard can't really be dead but it's an interesting twist when he turns up as a part of the mercenary crew and not a hostage. The name he's using while posing as an archaeologist is enough to give the episode an emotional hook that they don't even have to waste time explaining since Picard's beloved and recently departed mentor, Galen, is still fresh in our memories from The Chase in the previous season. It's another glowing demonstration of how the characters have grown together and work smoothly as a team without having to give a wink and a nudge to make their intentions known to each other. It's an example of Data's growth as he recognizes Riker's ruse quickly and it's not unreasonable that Worf would be irritable and hesitant after having lost both commanding officers in a short space of time. It's another affirmation of how The Wrath of Khan changed everything and saved the franchise. And it's just plain fun. You can't wait to see what happens next and find out why all this is happening. Five stars.
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