- Investigating a planet applying for membership into the Federation, the crew of the Enterprise finds a group of inhabitants who used to be soldiers, but now fight for their very existence.
- The Enterprise arrives at planet Angosha III, which wants to join the Federation. While their PM Naydor stresses pacifism and intellectualism, prisoner Roga Danar's escape from a maximal security facility is reported; the Enterprise undertakes to capture his cargo vessel, but it eludes the starship at an asteroid; after more tricks, the prisoner is beamed aboard and stunned with great difficulty. Danar has no life signs, his record is military. It is found he was in a program to turn unknowing Angoshan volunteer army recruits into perfect soldiers, by chemical and mind programming. He means it when he says he would rather die then return as prisoner, proves a master at escape and then surprises again...—KGF Vissers
- The Enterprise visits Angosia III which has applied for membership in the Federation. Captain Picard and First Officer Riker are impressed with Prime Minister Neyrock and what they find on the planet. When a prisoner escapes from the prison colony on Luna 5, the Enterprise offers to assist but the prisoner, Roga Nador, proves to be elusive. When they finally beam him on board, they learn that he was a soldier who served honorably and rose to a high rank. He was imprisoned for no crime other than being an expert soldier and after the end of war, was deemed a threat to society and resettled on Luna 5. He makes it clear that he would rather die than return to the prison planet.—garykmcd
- The Enterprise arrives at planet Angosia III, which wants to join the Federation. PM Nayrok (James Cromwell) stresses pacifism and intellectualism. Prisoner Roga Danar's (Jeff McCarthy) escape from a maximal security facility on Luna V is reported; the Enterprise undertakes to capture his stolen cargo vessel, but it eludes the star ship at an asteroid; after more tricks such as the vessel hidden within the polar magnetic field of the planet and when detected he tries to ram the Enterprise. Roga then puts himself in a life pod and tries to escape, but is detected by Data, the prisoner is beamed aboard and stunned with great difficulty.
Danar has no life signs (as none of the ship's sensors can register him), his record is military. He has a distinguished war record and was a decorated soldier. Deanna says there is a duality about Danar. Inherently, he has a non-violent personality. She tries to speak to Danar to figure out why he was imprisoned in the first place. Angosia had shared of all their databases with the Enterprise in support of their application to join the Federation. Data & Deanna search the database for records on Danar. It is found he was in a program to turn unknowing Angosian volunteer army recruits into perfect soldiers, by chemical and mind programming. He is very normal, but when a danger is perceived, the programming takes over. One of the substances in his body shields electrical impulses and hence doesn't even register on life scans.
When the wars ended, the soldiers had issues in assimilating back into society and hence were sent to prison. No-one tried to adjust their programming. Nayrok asks Picard not to interfere in matters of internal security. He sends a transport vessel to send Danar back to Lunar V.
Danar means it when he says he would rather die than return to Luna V as prisoner. Danar proves a master at escape. He uses the transporter beam energy to break the force field containment of his cell and is now free on the Enterprise armed with a phaser. He manages to sidestep all the traps set by Picard and Worf and is on his way towards Engineering. He takes control of Engineering and bypasses all security protocols to restore power to shuttles. Data senses that Danar is misdirecting them by making them believe that he is headed for the shuttles, and sure enough Danar shows up in the cargo bay transporter room. Picard tries to put him to sleep by pumping the room with sleeping gas. But Danar outsmarts them by making them believe he used a pressure suit to access the shuttle bay from outside.
Worf anticipates this and catches Danar in the cargo bay, but Danar beats him and beams himself onto the transport vessel from Angosia. He used a phaser to power the transporter. Before leaving he also disables all external sensors of the Enterprise by trigger explosions at the right locations. Nayrok informs Picard that Danar has attacked the penal colony at Luna V and triggered a riot. He is now headed to the capital with a few of his comrades. Picard leads an away team to defend the capital. Picard arrives with Worf, Data and Troi.
Picard tries to reason with Nayrok to provide treatment to the soldiers, but he is adamant that the settlement solution was part of a referendum. When Danar arrives with his troops, Picard orders not to engage them in a fight while Danar says he will not be ignored anymore. Danar says he and his comrades want their lives back. Nayrok wants Picard to use the Enterprise to force the soldiers back, but Picard refuses to intervene saying that this is an internal security matter as Nayrok once said. Angosia application for membership is rejected.
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