- Picard is replaced as captain of the Enterprise so he, Lt. Worf and Dr. Crusher go on a top-secret mission into Cardassian space. Meanwhile, his replacement, Captain Jellico, meets his new command with some resistance from the crew.
- Because of a feared imminent Cardassian invasion, Vice Admiral Alynna Nechayev comes to the Enterprise on the USS Cairo, to replace Picard as its captain by Cairo's captain, Edward Jellico, who immediately makes his mark on crew and ship, tells Troi there's no time for a 'honeymoon' with either for he expects the negotiations with the Cardassians he's charged with to fail and hastily deploys big plans to prepare the flagship for battle. Meanwhile, Picard, Worf and Dr. Crusher have a top-secret mission, to find and sabotage the presumed biological superweapon which can wipe out all life on a whole system prior to invasion. After their training, the trio bribes a Ferengi smuggler ship to reach the suspected Cardassian planet, but by the time they have intruded the subterranean installation...—KGF Vissers
- Because of a feared imminent Cardassian invasion, Vice Admiral Alynna Nechayev (Natalija Nogulich) comes to the Enterprise on the USS Cairo, to replace Picard as its captain by Cairo's captain, Edward Jellico (Ronny Cox). She tells the crew that Cardassians have deployed their fleet near Federation borders, have increased sub-space communications by 50%, and have mobilized 3 divisions of ground troops. She says that the Cardassians will try to take over one disputed system along the border, hoping that the Federation won't go to war over it.
Alynna tells the crew that Picard, the Chief Medical Officer and the Chief Security Officer have already been dispatched on a secret assignment. The Federation plans to deploy the Enterprise at the border, in negotiations with Cardassians to show how seriously they take this situation (flagship of the Starfleet at the border). Captain Jellico negotiated the initial armistice with the Cardassians and Alynna says that he is the most qualified to lead these negotiations with the Cardassians. Alynna makes Picard hand over the Enterprise to Jellico in a public ceremony on board the Enterprise. Riker knows that Starfleet wont conduct the ceremony if the change of command was temporary.
Picard is shown to be training Beverly and Worf for the mission but doesn't reveal what their mission is. Picard secretly discusses the mission with Jellico and says that the intelligence on the layout of the facility is over 2 years old. Jellico offers to launch a probe to get more recent information on the facility, and Picard can pick the telemetry data on his shuttle.
Jellico immediately makes his mark on crew and ship. His first order is to change the ship from 3 rotations to 4, despite Riker telling him that this would cause major personnel problems. Jellico tells Troi there's no time for a 'honeymoon' & even asks her to wear a standard uniform on the bridge. He expects the negotiations with the Cardassians to fail and hastily deploys big plans to prepare the flagship for battle. He orders major configuration changes to the internal engineering systems to prepare the ship for battle, which increases the workload of the crew significantly (sometimes 24 hrs shift for multiple days)
Meanwhile, Picard, Worf and Dr. Crusher have a top-secret mission, to find and sabotage the presumed biological super-weapon. A Metagenic super virus which is released into a planet's atmosphere and can wipe out all life on a whole system prior to invasion. Once destroying every life, the super virus breaks down and dissipates itself leaving entire cities untouched and ready for the invading armies. Metagenics are equally dangerous to the attackers and were banned years ago. Even Romulans have Abided by the ban on Mteagenics.
Picard says that intelligence suggests that the Cardassians are testing a new delivery system, which would deliver dormant viruses, which would activate only when they come in contact with certain catalytic agents. They would be carried on normal subspace waves, which would appear as background radiation and impossible to detect until too late. This way they prevent self-exposure. Recently Theta band sub-space emissions have been observed from Celtris III and this would indicate that a delivery system is in operation. Their orders are to destroy the Metagenic weapon at any cost.
The trio bribes a Ferengi smuggler Daimon Solok (Lou Wagner) ship to reach the suspected Cardassian planet Celtris III. When they get into the suspected lab, deep inside the planet's surface, they find it completely empty. They are attacked by Cardassians, Worf and Beverly manage to escape but Picard is captured. Gul Madred (David Warner) reveals that the entire story of a Metagenic virus was planted to lure Picard to Celtris III.
Meanwhile the Enterprise meets the Cardassian ship Reklar to start diplomatic talks with Gul Lemec (John Durbin). Jellico starts by making Lemec wait for him on the Enterprise, when he arrives for talks. Deanna confronts Jellico that he is deliberately picking a fight, but Jellico ignores her. When Lemec complains about this behavior, Jellico says that he is not serious about peace and walks off.
Deanna can sense that Jellico is not sure of himself. After a few mins Jellico re-joins Lemec. Lemec clearly states that he wants the Federation to withdraw from border systems which are Cardassian.
Riker retorts that those systems are under negotiations under terms of the peace treaty. But Lemec thinks Federation is just stalling for time. Lemec also says that he knows about Picard's mission.
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