| The Next Generation | |
| 20 | |
| Heart of Glory | |
| 41503.7 | |
The Enterprise has been sent to the site of a battle in the Neutral Zone. Could it be Romulans? It doesn't look like it as the only remains are a disabled Talarian freighter. The ship does contain life signs, so the bridge crew beams over into a hostile environment once again. Why don't they, just for once, send over an unknown ensign? We all know why, because TNG is supposed to be caring and sharing...
To allow the Enterprise to see what the away team sees, Geordi switches on his VisualAcuityTransmitter™, which sends back an image from his visor. I bet this feature will be conveniently forgotten in the future... Geordi sees metal fatigue in the hull and thinks that they may have 5 minutes. Do they beam back? No, they proceed on to find Klingons - two alive and one wounded! Predictably they get snatched back by the transporters just as the ship explodes. Yawn.
The Klingon Commander Korris explains how they were attacked by a Ferengi ship and only managed to defeat it by being sly and tricky. Unfortunately he is trying to be a little too sly as Worf points out that the weapons used were Klingon. A Ferengi ship with Klingon weapons? I don't think so.
Korris is amazed to see a Klingon serving in Starfleet, and Worf tells him that he is the only one. He also gives a short autobiography on how his family were killed and he was raised by humans. Korris mocks him with this and when Worf gets angry, Korris says it was just to see if Worf still could... In a touching scene the injured Klingon dies and Worf and the other two howl at the moon. Funerals must be really noisy for them.
In private Korris reveals the true story to Worf - it was not a Ferengi ship that they destroyed, it was a Klingon cruiser! He sees the alliance with the Federation as a living death to warriors. Haven't we already done this in a movie? To keep things interesting another Klingon cruiser is approaching at warp 5, and they want the renegades back. Picard sends Tasha to arrest the two criminals. Worf is put in a difficult situation - support his countrymen or support the Federation. A quick look at who is carrying phasers tells him that Tasha is on the side of good.
Unfortunately incarceration was not on the Klingon agenda for this morning. They manage to construct a phaser and field disruptor out of their clothing and escape, killing a guard in the process. Not a bad effort before lunch. Unfortunately one of them paid the ultimate price for a bad hair style and was killed.
Korris manages to get to engineering without being stopped, and threatens to destroy the dylithium chamber if Picard will not give him the saucer section. Does anyone else see this as a pretty significant single point failure mode? Worf faces him off up on the gantry, and when Korris suggests that he turn to the dark side he screams "You are not my father" and kills him.
After learning of the death of the two fugitives, the Commander of the Klingon cruiser offers Worf a commission once he has finished on the Enterprise. Worf thanks him, and then considering what he has said he tells the incredulous crew that he was just being polite.
