- Captain Picard foils a plot against the Bajorans with his new Bajoran officer, Ensign Ro.
- An emergency call from Solarion IV, a colony near the Cardassian-Federation border, is followed by Orta's space-ship's claim to have destroyed it as part of his Bajoran race's struggle to reclaim their ancient civilization's independence from the Cardassians. Admiral Kennelly decides the Enterprise's mission to settle that dispute peacefully requires a Bajoran officer and therefore assigns, without consulting Picard, female Ensign Ro Laren, whom he had to release from jail first, to the whole crew's dismay. After receiving blankets, the Bajoran refugee camp leader Keeve Falor arranges a meeting with Orta. There Picard finds former refugee Ro Laren came with a secret Bajorian agenda herself, but she tells him it's not just hers, the admiral is behind it. Then two Cardassian ships appear and their commander Gul Dolak demands the Enterprise deliver to them the ship of the Bajorans which the Enterprise is resettling as terrorists; Picard deals with the dark plot.—KGF Vissers
- Picard and the Enterprise finds themselves in the middle of a possible war between the Cardassians and the Bajorans. The Cardassians and the Federation have recently signed a peace treaty and as far as the Cardassians consider the Bajorans are terrorists who have recently attacked one of their colonies. Picard very much doubts that the Bajorans have the capability of attacking and so sets out to prove it. The Enterprise has also taken on a new officer Ensign Ro Laren, a Bajoran, who has something of a reputation for being insubordinate. As Picard will soon learn, she also been sent aboard the Enterprise with very specific orders.—garykmcd
- An emergency call from Solarion IV, a Federation colony near the Cardassian-Federation border, is followed by Orta's (Jeff Hayenga) space-ship's claim to have destroyed it as part of his Bajoran race's struggle to reclaim their ancient civilization's independence from the Cardassians. Orta claims that until Bajorans have a home, no one will be safe in this sector of space.
Enterprise takes the survivors from Solarion IV to the nearest star base. Admiral Kennelly has also reached there. Cardassians annexed the Bajoran home world 40 years ago, but in this period the Bajorans never attacked a Federation target. Kennelly says that Orta represents a splinter group, who is reverting to militant tactics to gain attention.
Admiral Kennelly (Cliff Potts) decides the Enterprise's mission to settle that dispute peacefully requires a Bajoran officer and therefore assigns, without consulting Picard, female Ensign Ro Laren (Michelle Forbes), whom he had to release from jail first, to the whole crew's dismay. Ro Laren served on the USS Wellington and caused the death of 8 crew members on an away mission to Garon II.
Kennelly wants Picard to offer Orta amnesty and a promise to help negotiate with the Cardassians, while fully knowing that Federation will never honor any such promise. The Bajorans have been made several such promises in the past and it is very unlikely that they will accept this one.
Ro makes it clear that she doesn't like serving on the Enterprise any more than Riker and the rest of the crew not wanting to serve with her. But this was the only choice given to her to escape prison.
Based on the recommendation of Ro, Enterprise visits the Bajoran refugee camp at Valo II. Ro arranges a meeting with Keeve Falor. Keeve is angry that the Federation has not helped the Bajorans when Cardassians took over their homes and planets and only now offer their help when the Bajorans have attacked the Federation outposts. Keeve is not interested in politics, he needs survival. Picard offers negotiations with the Cardassians if Bajorans stop the terrorist attacks.
After receiving blankets, the Bajoran refugee camp leader Keeve Falor (Scott Marlowe) arranges a meeting with Orta (on the 3rd moon of Valo I). Guinan speaks to Ro and wants to find out why she didn't defend herself at her own court martial. Ro says she didn't follow orders and 8 members of the away team died.
Picard finds former refugee Ro Laren came with a secret Bajorian agenda herself. On the Valo moon surface, Orta corners Picard's landing party. Orta reveals to Picard that the Bajorans never attacked any Federation outpost. Back on the Enterprise Ro confides to Picard (encouraged by Guinan) that Kennelly had asked Ro to meet Orta privately and offer him weapons and ships in exchange for making peace with the Federation. Ro agreed to this as she really wanted Bajorans to have a way to defend themselves against the Cardassians. But when Orta told her that he never attacked Solarion IV, she never made Kenelly's offer to Orta, as nothing made sense to her anymore.
Picard tells Ro not to update Kennelly and instead tells Kennelly himself that Orta has agreed to lay down arms and join the refugee colony on Valo III. Kennely doesn't know that Ro never made his offer to Orta. Then two Cardassian ships appear, and their commander Gul Dolak (Frank Collison) demands the Enterprise deliver to them the ship of the Bajorans which the Enterprise is resettling as terrorists; Picard deals with the dark plot. Picard calls Kennelly and informs him that the Cardassians knew the course, the heading, and the plan of the Enterprise. Picard accuses Kennelly of working with the Cardassians to expose Orta, so that the Cardassians can move in and kill him. Kennelly orders Picard to withdraw and he appears to do so. The Cardassian ships move in and destroy the Bajoran spaceship.
Picard tells Kennelly that Bajoran spaceships don't even have warp capability. They can't reach another star system, let alone attack it. So, this attack on Solarian IV was staged by Cardassians in a hope to find someone as gullible as Kennelly, who would solve their Bajoran problem for them. The spaceship destroyed by the Cardassians was empty. Picard asks Ro to remain in Starfleet.
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