| The Next Generation | |
| 63 | |
| Yesterday's Enterprise | |
| 43625.2 | |
Worf and Guinan are in 10-Forward chugging back a few brews. What does a well-hung Klingon of the 24th century drink to while away those lonely hours? Prune Juice - The Warriors Drink. I can see the advertising campaign now...
Oh no. Look out the window. Another swirling blue vortex cloud! I wonder what it is this time. Is it a worm-hole? Is it a new vaprous alien species, as yet unencountered by mankind? It is the smoke left from the takeoff of an old Ford that was parked here? Has Paramount got any special effect colour other than blue? Worf is summoned to the bridge...
According to Mr Talkie-Toaster and his trained monkey Wes, the object both is, and is not, a worm hole with no center and no edge. Great! What's more it seems that it probably has time displacement properties.
A wave breaks over Picard - at least that it what it looks like, and the bridge goes dark. He doesn't seem to notice. Strange. When asking the Lieutenant what it is, it looks like Worf has undergone some really radical surgery because he now looks just exactly like Tasha Yar. WHAT? TASHA YAR? She's dead. Yep - killed way back in series 1. Something really strange is going on here.
Cut to 10-Forward. Guinan looks really disconcerted. I'm not surprised since her nice clean bar seems to have changed into an officers mess. There are lots of people in here carrying phasers on shoulder slung hosters.
Cut back to the blue cloud. There is a ship coming out. A quick check of the registry shows that it is NCC-1701-C, U.S.S. Enterprise. This ship was destroyed before the current Enterprise was commissioned. The bridge of out favourite star ship has also changed somewhat. Other than the somewhat more serious mood lighting, Riker's and Troi's chairs are gone, Troi is nowhere to be seen, and Wesley is wearing the uniform of a full Ensign.
Military Log. Combat Date 43625.2. WHAT? Starfleet is not a military organisation. They are primarily involved in exploration, and are quite good at getting their butts kicked by the Romulans, but not since Kirk and ST:VI has it been a member of the armed forces.
The other Enterprise is commanded by Captain Garrett and was somehow blasted forward 22 years after trying to defend a Klingon outpost from Romulan attack. A clue that this is not a normal ST:TNG episode is that Picard is assertive, not the weak-willed bureacrat that we have come to pity and despise. There are Klingon battle cruisers in the sector and Picard puts the Enterprise on battle alert. I thought that the Klingons were now our friends. I suppose it does account for the suspicious absence of Worf.
Other than us, the only one who seems to have noticed that anything has changed is Guinan. She talks to Picard about it and tells him that it is all wrong. We are not supposed to be at war. My faith in Paramount returns when she says: "this is not a ship of war". I was right all along!
It seems that the Enterprise-C barely managed to escape the conflict that opened the worm-hole, and Data says that they have no chance of survival if they go back. Guinan tells Picard that he must send them back. This must cause a terrible dilemma in what up until now has been a weak, two dimensional character. If the Enterprise-C had stayed in the past, then maybe the war would not have happened in the first place. Can he risk sending the ship back to certain doom, and possibly invalidate his own past?
He makes his decision and the Enterprise-C must return. At a briefing of the officers we see glimpses of a Picard that we would prefer. When Riker tries to interject, Picard says "This is a briefing, I'm not seeking your concent". Maybe there is a chance for him after all.
A Klingon Bird-of-Prey attacks and the two Enterprises manage to drive it off. This is not without tragedy though, Garrett is killed and the Klingon's are sure to have told their high command where the Federation ships are. The last remaining officer of the Enterprise-C, Lt Castille offers to take it back through the worm-hole and complete their destiny. The strangely alive Tasha Yar has been developing a taste for older men - 22 years older, and tongue whips Castille in the transporter room before he is beamed back.
Guinan has been acting strangely whenever Tasha is about, and Tasha finally confronts her about it. As we all know, Tasha was killed in the other time line. This has got to be a real bummer. If the Enterprise-C succeeds she will no longer exist. Tasha requests a transfer to the Enterprise-C so that her death might have meaning. Very patriotic. Me thinks that the fact that Castille was on the other ship had more to do with it.
There is no time to think. Three Klingon Covort class battle cruisers are approaching without cloaking. Someone is going to get pasted. After an exchange of phaser and photon torpedo fire, the Enterprise-D is badly damaged and one of the Klingons is destroyed. Just when you thought that Picard might survive this one, Geordi gives us the great news that the anti-matter containment fields are failing and that he may have to dump the reactor. Nope. Sorry the shutdowns just failed too. The Enterprise-D now has less that 2 minutes to live.
After more pounding from the remaining two Klingons, Riker is killed and Picard is offered surrender terms. "That will be the day" he asserts. So as the Enterprise-C re-enters the worm hole, the Enterprise-D sits still and gets pounded. Why doesn't he at least move? Doesn't really matter because another wave washes over and Picard is back to normal.
