Handlung

A mission of the Enterprise is seen through the eyes of some junior officers who are up for promotions, as questions of duty and honor arise among some of them, such as a Bajoran whom Worf has designated to be promoted to operations.

Sam Lavelle, who is up for promotion after tests he takes with fellow ensigns, fears Riker has it in for him. Sito Jaxa is told by Picard she shouldn't even have been admitted to the course after her cowardly conduct as Starfleet Academy cadet. Worf takes care of the close combat training. While the trainee officers wrestle with their hopes and honor, the Enterprise has to shift focus to a real operation. This involves a covert mission with a Cardassian, for which a cadet is selected after some doubts have been lifted by hidden psychological tests.—KGF Vissers

It's crew evaluation time and several of the junior officers are worried about what the future may hold. Ensigns Sito Jaxa and Sam Lavelle are competing for the Ops position. She's been dressed down by the Captain and he's convinced that Riker doesn't like him. Ensign Taurik thinks that La Forge appreciates his work and Nurse Alyssa Ogawa is worried about her personal life. When the Enterprise comes across an escape pod containing a Cardassian spy, one of the Ensigns will be asked to go on a very dangerous mission.—garykmcd

Sam Lavelle (Dan Gauthier), who is up for promotion, fears Riker has it in for him. Sam, Bajoran Sito, Vulcn Taurik and human Alyssa are up for promotion. All the Ensigns have been given a test to evaluate their readiness for the Lieutenant post. Sam and Sito learn that they are being considered for the same role in Operations under Riker. Riker holds simulation drills to evaluate their performance (at the operations console on bridge) and finds Sito is 7% slower to Sam.

Ensign Taurik (Alexander Enberg) (A Vulcan) is working with Geordi in engineering and has figured out a new warp field configuration, which improve warp field integrity and engine performance. Nurse Alyssa Ogawa (Patti Yasutake) has impressed the heck out of Beverly, and she is recommending her for promotion to Lt. as well. Worf likes Sito as part of his security crew, and he reveals to Sito that he is the one who recommended for the operations role.

Ben (Bruce Beatty) the waiter from ten-forward, encourages Sam to get to know Riker and not judge him due to his official demeanor. But it is a disaster when Sam talks about Canada and Riker says he is from Alaska. The ship is headed to the Argaya system (near the Cardassian system) and the junior crew know nothing about it. They find an escape pod 50,000 Kms inside Cardassian space (and the ship is at the edge of the Cardassian border) and boost the transporter beam by 10% to beam the humanoid over to sick bay. Only the seniors are allowed inside sickbay, while Sito is on guard outside.

Picard calls Sito for a meeting and wants to know if she considers herself a good pilot. She has been on the Enterprise for the last 7 months. Sito Jaxa (Shannon Fill) is told by Picard she shouldn't even have been admitted to the course after her cowardly conduct as Starfleet Academy cadet three years ago. She participated in a daredevil stunt in which one cadet died. Instead of coming clean, she joined the other cadets in pretending that the death was due to an accident. Picard says that she should have been expelled from the Academy. Beverly asks Alyssa to assist with a surgery on a Cardassian and orders her not to discuss anything with anybody. Geordi works with Taurik to intentionally put phaser blast marks on the shuttle's hull, to make it look like it escaped an attack.

Worf supports Sito for the Operations position on bridge, but Riker is not convinced about her. He also feels that Sam is too eager to please. Worf takes care of the close combat training. He teaches Sito not to take unfair judgments without protesting. Sito stands up to Picard and says that she should be judged on what she has accomplished on the ship and not at the Academy.

Picard says he was not assessing her for a promotion, but for a mission. He reveals that the Cardassian rescued from the escape pod was Joret Dal (Don Reilly). He is a Federation spy, who risked his life to bring information to the Enterprise, that would save Bajorans in the sector. He needs to go back, but his own ship was destroyed. Enterprise has prepared its own shuttle, and fired on it to make it look it like Joret had escaped from a firefight. Sito agrees to help as she is a Bajoran herself and Joret risked his life for her people.

To cross the border, he intends to use Sito as a Bajoran terrorist, as project himself as a bounty hunter. Once across, she will be put into an escape pod and sent across the border, where the Enterprise will pick her up. But Enterprise waits for 30 hours without any sign of Sito's escape pod. Data finds signs of debris that match the mass of a Federation spec escape pod. Picard announces Sito's death to the crew and Sam gets promoted.