STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION
Season 7, Episode 2

Liaisons

Series: The Next Generation - (1987-1994)
Season: 7
Episode #: 7.02
Production #: 40277-254
Original Airdate: 09/27/1993

Writer(s): Roger Eschbacher, Jaq Greenspon, Jeanne Carrigan Fauci, and Lisa Rich
Director(s): Cliff Bole

Guest Stars
Barbara Williams as Anna
Eric Pierpoint as Ambassador Voval
Paul Eiding as Ambassador Loquel
Michael Harris as Ambassador Byleth

Co-Stars
Rickey D'Shon Collins as Eric Burton

Uncredited Guest Stars
David Keith Anderson as Ensign Armstrong
Arratia as Ensign Alfonse Pacelli
Lena Banks as an Operations Division Ensign
Michael Braveheart as Ltjg. Martinez
Carl David Burks as Lt. Russell
Cameron as Ensign Kellogg
Tracee Lee Cocco as Ltjg. Jae
Elliot Durant III as an Operations Division Ensign
Gunnel Eriksson as a Sciences Division Officer
Linda Harcharic as a Command Division Ensign
Kerry Hoyt as an Operations Division Ensign
Gary Hunter as a Sciences Division Officer
Lorine Mendell as Lt. Diana Giddings
Keith Rayve as a Civilian
S. Reed as Crewman Burton
Talbot as a Ten Forward Waitress
John Tampoya as an Operations Division Ensign
Christina Wegler Miles as a Command Division Ensign

Stardate: Unknown

Synopsis

The U.S.S. Enterprise welcomes two Iyaaran ambassadors, Loquel and Byleth, who are visiting the ship as part of a "cultural exchange" that will also send Picard to their planet. Before Picard departs, he assigns Troi to act as Loquel's liaison and asks Riker to do the same for Byleth. But Byleth has other ideas, and instead demands that Worf serve as his shipboard guide. Soon afterward, Picard departs for the Iyaaran homeworld with Voval, the Iyaaran shuttle pilot, who is gruff and uncommunicative. Their awkward silence is disrupted by a malfunction aboard their ship. Crashing on an unknown planet, Voval receives a concussion, but Picard is seemingly unhurt. He decides to seek help outside, but falls to the ground trying to traverse the planet's stormy surface. While he lies unconscious, someone silently drags him away.

Picard awakens on the distant planet in a small, dimly-lit cargo cabin. He is approached by a solemn, attractive human woman who informs him that Voval did not survive the crash. Picard learns that the woman's name is Anna and that she is the sole survivor of a Terellian cargo freighter crash that occurred seven years before. After Anna tells him that he has three broken ribs, he sends her to retrieve the shuttlecraft's com panel to send a distress signal, but she accidentally destroys the transmitter module while removing it. Picard is then shocked when Anna suddenly kisses him and tells him she loves him.

[ Screencap Index ]

Back on the Enterprise, Worf has had about all he can take of his abrasive, demanding guest. Riker decides that the tension might be eased by a "friendly" game of poker. The game is anything but "friendly," and Worf realizes that Byleth is stealing chips. Before long, Worf loses control and, despite Riker's insistence that he calm down, attacks his guest. But instead of getting angry, Byleth is pleased. He expresses admiration for Worf's display of anger and politely excuses himself to document the experience, leaving everyone confused.

Meanwhile, Picard becomes enraged at Anna when he realizes that his ribs are not really broken, and the woman, who continues to beg for his love, is actually holding him captive. He angrily alerts Anna to his discovery, at which point she becomes distraught over failing to gain his affection and rushes out the door, breaking off her necklace. Picard runs out to find her, only to encounter Voval, who is very much alive.

Voval explains that he only appeared to be dead because, when Lyaarans are injured, their metabolic rates slow down in order to promote healing. He and Picard set off in search of Anna, eventually separating. Picard finds her at the edge of a cliff, threatening to commit suicide if he does not tell her he loves her. When he notices that Anna is again wearing her necklace and that Voval has again disappeared, Picard senses that something strange is going on and tells Anna to go ahead and jump. At that moment, she transforms herself back into Voval, who explains that he is not really a pilot, but an Iyaaran ambassador. He staged the crash in order to study the emotion of love, non-existent on the Iyaaran homeworld, by using Picard as a subject. Similarly, Loquel and Byleth were sent to experience pleasure and antagonism. Picard is taken aback at first, but upon returning to the Enterprise, joins Worf and Troi in deeming the experience a worthwhile one.

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