Planetary rescue: The Enterprise (command + engineering) must avert annihilation of Bre'el Four by altering the trajectory of its moon Klyo despite hard engineering limits, tactical risk, and an external energetic threat.

On the Enterprise bridge the crew moves from technical assessment to grim inevitability: Data confirms the moon's deteriorating orbit, Bre'el scientists reveal its ferrous crystalline composition makes tidal breakup impossible, …

On the bridge Picard receives a desperate, moral appeal: Garin and a Bre'el Four scientist report accelerating tides and the impossibility of sheltering everyone if the moon impacts. As the …

Q abruptly returns to omnipotence and theatrically celebrates on the Enterprise bridge, dissolving the immediate Calamarain threat offscreen. He offers Data a cryptic 'going away' present that triggers Data's first …