| The Next Generation | |
| 14 | |
| Angel One | |
| 41636.9 | |
The Enterprise is doing a fine job as the galactic garbage-skiff, looking for wrecks of disabled freighters. They find the Odin and discover that its escape pods had been used. As they don't have anything better to do, they track the pods to a planet called Angel One - a planet ruled entirely by females. Riker is squirming in his seat already!
Mistress Beata, the leader of Angel One grudgingly agrees to a meeting, and then refuses point-blank to answer any questions. Troi claims that they are all afraid, and after looking at Riker's grin, we can imagine of what. After some consideration they agree to tell of the survivors, only if they can get a guarantee that they will be removed if found. Riker manages to agree, which is no mean feat as he has his tongue hanging out.
There are four survivors, lead by Ramsey and they are considered dangerous fugitives. Initially they were welcomed, but when they started making unreasonable demands, they became outcasts.
Back on the Enterprise, Wes has just finished his skiing lesson on the holodeck, and manages to find time to snowball the captain in the face. Strike another blow for the boy blunder. To make it worse, he also has a virus and has managed to give it to Picard.
Data consults the planet-side library and discovers that they have no platinum. He instigates a search of the planet for that metal, in the hope that Ramsey just might have some. What a surprise - he does! Rather than lead the away team to the survivor's location, Riker gets dressed up in silver spandex for a meeting with Beata, and leaves Troi and Yar to do all the searching. Beata claims that she wants Riker's "gesture of goodwill". Funny, I've never heard it called that before!
Things are not looking good on the Enterprise as the bridge crew is rapidly thinning. Since Geordi outranks Worf, he now gets to sit in the captain's chair and pronounce: "Make it so". Uggh. He soon becomes lord over no-one, as Worf also stomps off to the sick-bay.
Deanna, Tasha and Data beam over to the survivors and, not surprisingly, they don't want to be rescued. They have landed on a planet full of dominant, beautiful women, and they like it! He also claims that he is fighting for Men's rights, since they are so badly oppressed. Data - the fount of inappropriate knowledge - claims that since Ramsey is not a member of Starfleet, they can't forcibly remove him from the planet. Ramsey looks particularly smug.
Riker looks like he is going to be able to gesture his goodwill in Beata, and tries to buy her over with a 24th century version of a lava-lamp. He mutters: "Will you still respect me in the morning?" as he slides his tongue in. Little does he know that she doesn't respect him now, so the morning doesn't matter...
Mistress Beata's playtime is interrupted by the return of the away team. She is unimpressed by their refusal to remove the survivors, and so imposes a death penalty on Ramsey and his mates. Maybe Riker was lucky, because if he hadn't performed up to standard...
Ramsey is apprehended with Mistress Ariel - another one of the ruling party of Angel One. Beata offers Ramsey and his whole retinue a choice, death or leave the planet. Ramsey proves his mental aptitude by taking the death option. Riker wants to beam them all up regardless, but can't since Dr Bev has issued a quarantine as everyone now seems to be sick. Wil sends Data back as he is probably immune to the effects.
The executing is scheduled, and Riker's silver tongue manages to get the prisoners a stay of execution. Hopefully it will be longer than the 48 minutes that they have left. With 17 minutes left to go, Dr Crusher comes up with an inoculant to the virus - a virus that was generated on the holodeck, isn't that impossible? It turns out not to be necessary for Ramsey and his cohorts, since Mistress Beata commutes their sentence to exile on another continent.
