- A retired admiral boards the Enterprise in an effort to determine the actions aboard the ship surrounding an act of sabotage and possible treason.
- A Klingon traitor is arrested: engineer Lieutenant J'Ddan, who passed secrets to the Romulans via fluid in a medical syringe, sabotage is feared. Retired female Federation Admiral Satie and her former assistants arrive to take charge of the investigation, with security chief Worf. Meanwhile Data and LaForge look into the sabotage risk. J'Ddan's denial of sabotaging the vital dilithium chamber is credible, which implies another traitor aboard, so the crew is grilled, starting with medic Simon Tarses who gave J'Ddan his injections. After a paranormal counsel believes Tarses a liar, he's tricked by lies into acting guilty, even though the 'sabotage' was in fact found to be an accidental failure, and confesses he lied about his ancestry to hide a Romulan grandfather. Picard objects against the unethical procedure, Satie calls upon Starfleet chief of security Admiral Henry to look for an even wider conspiracy, starting with Picard himself, based on his long-term record, and Worf, based on his father's treason...—KGF Vissers
- After J'Ddan, a Klingon serving temporarily on the Enterprise, is believed to have passed on Federation secrets to the Romulans retired Admiral Nora Satie is brought out of retirement to assist with the investigation. It's also believed that J'Ddan caused a great deal of damage to the ship's engines. After Lt. Worf discovers how J'Ddan transferred the information to the Romulans, the Admiral asks him to conduct the interrogation. The Admiral quickly concludes that there may be more than one spy on board and sees the possibility of a conspiracy. When they find that a young crewman has hidden a distant Romulan family connection, she and her aide believe they have found the co-conspirator. Picard isn't so sure but the Admiral begins to suspect others on the ship and launches a widespread and damaging investigation leading to putting Picard on the hot seat.—garykmcd
- A Klingon traitor is arrested: engineer Lieutenant J'Ddan (Henry Woronicz). J'Ddan is a Klingon Exobiologist on board who is part of an exchange program with the Klingons, who passed secrets to the Romulans (of the warp drive designs) via fluid in a medical syringe The syringe had an optical reader to convert digital information into coded data on Amino acids. These amino acids could be injected into anyone, who would become a courier of top-secret information. A sabotage of the warp drive is feared.
J'Ddan was noted as using a computer terminal to access the Warp drive controls and shortly thereafter there was an explosion in the warp drive itself, but fortunately the ship survived, even though the propulsion system was damaged. It sounds like J'Ddan passed on engine schematics to Romulan. The Romulans then instructed J'Ddan or someone else on the ship to sabotage the warp engine, which resulted in the explosion. J'Ddan tries to bribe Worf with redemption on Klingon if he helps him to escape via shuttle-craft. He claims he has powerful friends on the Klingon home planet and can re-instate Worf's honor in exchange for his escape. Worf beats up J'Ddan.
Retired female Federation Admiral Satie (Jean Simmons) and her former assistants Sabin (Bruce French) (a Betazed) and Nelle (Ann Shea) arrive to take charge of the investigation, with security chief Worf. Meanwhile Data and LaForge look into the risk that the warp engine was deliberately sabotaged. The video footage doesn't reveal anything. The engine was working under normal parameters till about 52 milliseconds prior to the explosion. Satie was the one who uncovered the alien conspiracy to take over Starfleet command 3 years ago. Picard talks to Satie about the possibility of Klingons and Romulans aligning against the Federation. J'Ddan accepts to being a spy for the Romulans, but J'Ddan's denial of sabotaging the vital Dilithium chamber is credible (as confirmed by Sabin), which implies another traitor aboard. So, the crew is grilled, starting with medic Simon Tarses (Spencer Garrett) who gave J'Ddan his injections.
Sabin believes Tarses is lying, he's tricked by lies into acting guilty. Sabin is convinced that they have the man who sabotaged the engines. Though the 'sabotage' of the engine was in fact found to be an accidental failure. Tarses confesses he lied about his ancestry to hide a Romulan grandfather (he had claimed his grandfather was Vulcan)
Picard objects to Satie against the unethical procedure by trying to hold Tarses guilty without evidence. He speaks to her and says Tarses may have lied on his application, but that does not make him a traitor. Satie feels Picard is blocking the investigation. Satie calls upon Starfleet chief of security Admiral Henry (Earl Billings) to look for an even wider conspiracy, starting with Picard himself, based on his long-term record, and Worf, based on his father's treason.
Picard is brought to the stand, and he argues against the trial conducted against Tarses based on insinuation and innuendo. He says that Tarses is being on account of his family Romulan lineage, which has got nothing to do with his actions in the present. Picard appeals to Henry not to condemn Tarses on account of his bloodline.
Satie accuses Picard of violating the Prime Directive 9 times during his command. Sabin questions him about the T'Pel incident. T'Pel was a secret Romulan spy, and Picard was ordered to deliver her to the Romulans. Satie says when the deception was revealed, Picard took no action to retrieve her. Worf interjects that the Enterprise was in danger, and Picard did everything he could. Sain then questions Worf as his own father was a Romulan collaborator. She also questions Picard if he has recovered from the Borg captivity. 39 ships were lost, 11,000 lives gone.
Picard continues to repel Satie logically and she has an emotional outburst saying that she has brought down bigger men than him. Everyone in the hearing room realizes that for Satie this is about satisfying her own ego and not about finding out about the truth. Admiral Henry calls an end to the hearings and Satie leaves the Enterprise.
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