STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION
Season 1, Episode 25

Conspiracy

Series: The Next Generation - (1987-1994)
Season: 1
Episode #: 1.25
Production #: 40271-125
Original Airdate: 05/09/1988

Writer(s): Robert Sabaroff and Tracy Tormé
Director(s): Cliff Bole

Guest Stars
Henry Darrow as Rear Admiral Savar
Ward Costello as Rear Admiral Gregory Quinn
Robert Schenkkan as Lt. Cmdr. Dexter Remmick
Ray Reinhardt as Vice Admiral Aaron
Jonathan Farwell as Captain Walker Keel
Michael Berryman as Captain Rixx
Ursaline Bryant as Captain Tryla Scott

Uncredited Guest Stars
Majel Barrett-Roddenberry as the Voice of the U.S.S. Enterprise-D Computer
Jeffrey Deacon as a Command Division Officer
Steve Casavant as Lt. Longo
Dexter Clay as an Operations Division Officer
Nora Leonhardt as a Science Division Ensign
Tim McCormack as Ensign Bennett
Lorine Mendell as Lt. Diana Giddings
Steve Reed as a Science Division Officer
Richard Sarstedt as a Command Division Officer
Gary J. Wayton as a Starfleet Headquarters Security Officer

Stardate: 41775.5

Synopsis

While journeying to Pacifica, the U.S.S. Enterprise receives an emergency message for Captain Picard from Starfleet Captain Walker Keel, who requests a secret meeting.

At a rendezvous on an uninhabited planet, Captain Keel and two other Starfleet officers tell Picard that they suspect a growing conspiracy in the upper ranks of Starfleet.

Alarmed by Keel's accusations, Picard orders Lieutenant Commander Data to review all Starfleet directives during the past six months. Picard's concern escalates when Keel's vessel mysteriously explodes, killing all aboard, and Data's research reveals abnormalities in the highest levels of the Starfleet command.

[ Complete Screencap Index ]

Convinced the Federation's security is at risk, Picard steers the Enterprise toward Earth to confront Starfleet's top admirals. After requesting a meeting with the officers, Picard and Riker are invited to dinner to discuss the problem.

Prior to dinner, Admiral Quinn, who several months earlier had warned Picard that subversive elements had invaded Starfleet, visits the U.S.S. Enterprise. Suspicious of the admiral, Picard orders Riker to watch him closely before joining him on Earth. Picard's instincts turn out to be correct: as soon as Picard beams down to join the other admirals, Quinn attacks Riker, rendering him unconscious.

After Lt. Worf and Dr. Crusher join forces to subdue the incredibly powerful Admiral Quinn, they discover that a parasitic being has invaded Quinn's body and it is controlling all of his brain functions. When Riker regains consciousness, he beams down to Earth, pretending to be one of the parasitic-controlled beings.

At the dinner, Riker realizes that the Starfleet command is controlled by the parasites. Fortunately, he and Picard are able to kill the parasitic-infested admirals, as well as the species' mother creature. However, Data later discovers that the mother creature sent a homing beacon to an unexplored region of our galaxy before being destroyed ...

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