Samaritan Snare
When scavenger Pakleds abduct Chief Engineer Geordi La Forge and demand Enterprise computer secrets, Commander Riker must outwit deceptively simple enemies to retrieve him—while Captain Picard undergoes a dangerous cardiac replacement, making the rescue urgent.
A taut two-strand crisis rips through the Enterprise: Captain Jean-Luc Picard sneaks off to Starbase 515 for a corrective cardiac replacement while the ship answers a Mayday that turns out to be a trap. Picard cloaks his anxiety in brusque detachment and curt conversation with Ensign Wesley Crusher; he confesses a buried vulnerability—an old, literally impaling lesson from his youth—and strobes of personal history punctuate the medical urgency at Starbase. Picard insists the operation remain private; Pulaski orders him to the base anyway, and he reluctantly accepts an escort in Wesley.
Back aboard the Enterprise, Riker answers an enigmatic distress call from a primitive-looking vessel, the Mondor. Onscreen the Pakled commander Grebnedlog utters the plaintive refrain “We look for things,” and the crew initially read them as harmless and clueless. Chief Engineer Geordi La Forge beams over to help; he patiently walks through guidance repairs, reassured by Grebnedlog’s eye-rolling simplicity. Counselor Troi, however, reads something darker: she insists the aliens are insincere, that help is not their true motive. Data's scans complicate the picture—Pakled systems display a baffling patchwork of stolen technologies—and Worf argues for caution. Riker trusts humanitarian duty and sends Geordi anyway.
The trap snaps shut when the Pakleds reveal a shield that blocks the transporter and then stun Geordi, snatching his phaser and insisting: “We want to be smart.” Their children-with-stolen-technology demeanor turns predatory as they replicate weapons and force Riker’s hand. The Enterprise cannot beam Geordi back; the Mondor’s shield proves Romulan-like and inexplicably advanced. Troi's warnings sharpen into dread: the Pakleds intended to seize technical expertise, and La Forge becomes the bargaining chip.
Riker and his officers race through analysis and options. Data uncovers that the Mondor’s reported malfunctions were staged—power and guidance were intact—evidence that the Pakleds orchestrated the rescue call to lure a skilled technician. Pulaski frets for Geordi’s medical condition after multiple phaser stuns, while Worf presses for an all-out assault that would doom their engineer. Riker builds a stratagem instead: he will feed the Pakleds their longing for power and then engineer a moment to reclaim Geordi. They pretend that La Forge is uniquely skilled in weapons; through on-screen theater and Geordi’s coerced compliance, the Pakleds accept his authority and power up crude photon torpedoes assembled from stolen tech.
As Picard lies on an operating table at Starbase, surgeons fight failing capillary reactions and heterocyclic complications; the operation grows perilous and the base summons additional specialists. Picard’s personal arc threads through the danger: his admission of past recklessness—told candidly to Wesley aboard the shuttle—returns as emotional ballast to the crisis, underscoring leadership’s costs and the frailty beneath command.
Back in the ruse, Sonya in Engineering improvises a spectacular bluff. Riker times a faux escalation: the Enterprise simulates a countdown and unleashes a dazzling crimson energy bloom—hydrogen exhaust through the Bussard collectors—designed as a nonlethal but terrifying demonstration of superior power. Geordi simultaneously sabotages the Pakled weapons at the last second. The Pakleds, who equate “smart” with strength, are humbled; their newly-armed torpedoes fail, Grebnedlog concedes “We are not strong,” and they lower their shields. Transporter locks in and Riker recovers Geordi.
With Geordi safe, the Enterprise burns to Starbase at warp nine. Picard, near death but now revived—Pulaski stands over him in recovery—grudgingly accepts that his privacy was compromised for his survival. He returns to command, gruff and alive; Wesley earns Starfleet exam credit and Picard mans the bridge, insisting on setting course for the Epsilon Pulsar Cluster. Riker closes the tactical loop with a moral pivot: he admonishes the Pakleds that weapons alone do not create strength, insisting that restraint must accompany power.
The episode collides themes of deception and mentorship, strength and vulnerability. Riker leads a moral gambit that privileges cunning and restraint over brute force; Geordi’s technical improvisation converts captivity into agency while exposing his vulnerability; Picard’s medical crisis reveals the private costs of command and his investment in mentoring Wesley. Troi’s empathic alarm drives the ethical tension and Data’s forensic logic exposes the enemy’s method. The Pakleds themselves crystallize a cautionary caricature: a species that steals technology without the cultural scaffolding to wield it responsibly, repeating the whispered insistence “We want to be smart” until the line itself indicts them.
The resolution rewards cunning and solidarity. The Enterprise protects its core—personnel and secrets—without unnecessary slaughter, and the captain returns renewed. The final tableau returns to shipboard routine, but now the crew carries the sting of how easily compassion can be weaponized and how leadership must balance courage, restraint, and improvisation under pressure.
Events in This Episode
The narrative beats that drive the story
The Enterprise, en route to the Epsilon Nine Sector, faces a dual crisis. Captain Picard, cloaking a personal vulnerability beneath a veneer of command, departs for Starbase 515 with Ensign Wesley Crusher for a secret cardiac replacement, a procedure he views as a humiliating admission of frailty. His brusque demeanor barely conceals his anxiety, hinting at a deeper, unrevealed past. Meanwhile, Commander Riker assumes command, diverting the ship to answer an enigmatic Mayday from the primitive-looking Pakled vessel, the Mondor. The Pakleds, led by Grebnedlog, present as simple, wistful beings who "look for things," their ship seemingly broken. Despite Counselor Troi's empathic alarm, sensing insincerity and danger, and Worf's Klingon caution, Riker prioritizes humanitarian duty. He dispatches Chief Engineer Geordi La Forge to the Mondor, underestimating the seemingly harmless aliens. Geordi beams over, ready to assist, utterly unaware he steps into a cunningly laid trap, setting the stage for his capture and the Enterprise's desperate gamble.
In Pulaski's Sickbay office a terse, moral standoff forces Picard's private vulnerability into the open. Pulaski moves from clinical concern to formal command, issuing an order to report to Starbase …
In Sickbay Pulaski confronts Picard and strips away his rationalizations — the Epsilon Pulsar excuse, the mission-first posture — and replaces them with cold medical authority. When Picard refuses a …
Shuttle Two departs under Picard's terse clearance while Data pilots; Riker watches and, puzzled, confronts Data about a contradiction — Picard had been looking forward to the Epsilon Pulsar Cluster, …
The Enterprise drops to impulse as Shuttle Two departs with Captain Picard. Riker notices an unexplained change in the captain's plan, then Worf intercepts a terse Mayday from Rhomboid Dronegar …
The Enterprise halts to answer a primitive distress call from the Pakled ship Mondor. On the viewer, Grebnedlog's halting, wistful speech — the repeated refrain "We look for things / …
Responding to a plaintive distress call, Riker orders Chief Engineer Geordi La Forge to beam aboard the disabled Pakled ship Mondor. Worf objects, urging shields and remote assistance, while Data’s …
As Geordi diligently works to repair the Pakleds' guidance system, unaware of the brewing peril, Counselor Troi's unease intensifies, her empathic senses screaming of profound danger and insincerity. Riker, still underestimating the Pakleds' deceptive simplicity, struggles to reconcile their seemingly benign nature with Troi's dire warnings. Simultaneously, Captain Picard, isolated in the shuttle with Wesley, reluctantly peels back layers of his guarded persona, revealing the personal cost of command and the vulnerability beneath his stoic exterior as he discusses his recurring cardiac procedure. Back on the Mondor, Geordi, flattered by the Pakleds' "admiration," completes the guidance system repairs, only for a sudden "main power failure" to prolong his stay. This manufactured crisis culminates in the trap snapping shut: the Pakleds, shedding their innocent facade, stun Geordi with his own phaser, erect an inexplicably advanced Romulan-like shield, and cut off all communication. Geordi becomes a hostage, his VISOR ripped away, as the Enterprise crew watches in mounting horror, the true, predatory intelligence of their "simple" adversaries now terrifyingly clear.
On the bridge Troi arrives and, staring at the viewscreen, reads a lethal undertow the others miss. Riker and Data regard Geordi's mission as a quaint humanitarian call—‘curious throwbacks’—while Geordi …
Counselor Deanna Troi's empathic alarm shatters the bridge's complacency: she reads malice, not helplessness, around Geordi aboard an alien vessel. Riker and Data initially dismiss the visitors as harmless "throwbacks," …
On the Enterprise bridge tension bubbles as Riker's patience unravels while Data, Worf and Troi look on. Riker presses the distant Pakleds for their hostage engineer; the Pakleds feign simple-mindedness …
On the bridge Riker's impatience clashes with the Pakleds' disarmingly simple manner as Grebnedlog repeats his childlike mantra. The Pakleds feign helplessness while subtly naming Geordi as their indispensable 'engineer.' …
With Geordi now a captive, the Enterprise bridge crackles with Riker's contained fury and the crew's escalating alarm. Data races to analyze the impenetrable Romulan-like shield, while Worf presses for a tactical assault, a move Riker vehemently rejects, unwilling to jeopardize Geordi's life. Isolated in the shuttle, Captain Picard, still grappling with his impending surgery, offers Wesley a rare, raw glimpse into his own past. He recounts a youthful, arrogant encounter with Nausicaans that left him impaled and nearly dead—a brutal lesson in humility and the perils of unchecked pride, echoing the very recklessness Riker now tries to avoid. Back on the Mondor, Geordi, repeatedly stunned and disoriented without his VISOR, slowly comprehends the Pakleds' true nature: they are not merely simple, but cunning scavengers, replicating phasers and demanding the Enterprise's computer secrets. Data's analysis confirms Troi's grim premonition, revealing the Pakleds staged their malfunctions, orchestrating the entire "rescue" to ensnare a skilled technician. The stakes rocket skyward: the Pakleds, now armed and emboldened, issue their terrifying ultimatum, threatening Geordi's life for Starfleet's most vital intelligence.
What begins as a seeming goodwill extraction collapses into a savage ambush: the Pakleds’ flattery disarms Geordi, Reginod and Grebnedlog exploit his trust, and a hidden stun blast slams him …
On the Mondor bridge a supposed rescue collapses into a hostage crisis: Grebnedlog's sleight-of-hand and a stun blast leave Geordi injured and his VISOR dislodged, while Riker's urgent order to …
When hails go unanswered, Commander Riker instantly orders the bridge into a defensive configuration: shields raised, phasers readied and sensors cranked to maximum. Data confirms the silence while Worf urges …
When sensors confirm the Mondor is ignoring hails, the bridge snaps to battle readiness — shields, phasers and full sensor sweeps — until Riker abruptly calls a stop. Learning Lieutenant …
Alone in the shuttle at impulse speed, Picard sheds his command mask and gives Wesley a blunt, painful account of youthful arrogance and its cost. He admits his career always …
Alone in the shuttle with a young, curious Wesley, Picard peels back the captain’s mask to deliver a blunt, personal parable: as a proud, green officer he picked a fight …
Troi's empathic certainty and Data's forensic scans convert a puzzling engineering failure into a clear, lethal gambit: the Pakleds staged malfunctions to lure and seize Geordi La Forge. The bridge …
On the Enterprise bridge Troi's empathic certainty and Data's hard scans combine to expose the Mondor 'distress' as an engineered trap: guidance and power systems are intact and the malfunctions …
The Enterprise bridge becomes a crucible of desperate strategy as Riker and his command team confront the Pakleds' chilling demand. Pulaski voices urgent medical concerns for Geordi, repeatedly stunned and vulnerable, while Worf's calls for force clash with Riker's commitment to a bloodless rescue. Data's insights into Pakled culture—a species that steals technology for instant gratification, lacking the wisdom to wield it—ignite Riker's audacious plan: treat them like petulant children, feeding their longing for power through a calculated ruse. Simultaneously, at Starbase 515, Captain Picard's cardiac replacement veers into perilous territory. What began as a routine procedure becomes a life-or-death struggle against failing capillary reactions and heterocyclic complications, underscoring the frailty beneath his formidable command. Back on the Mondor, Geordi, battered but resilient, is coerced into playing the role of a weapons expert, a dangerous charade designed to manipulate the Pakleds' hunger for "strength." Riker, through a tense, coded exchange, orchestrates Geordi's compliance, using veiled threats of treason and cryptic references to Klingon "levels of awareness" to signal the engineer into his critical role. The stage is set for a high-stakes gambit where deception becomes the ultimate weapon, and Picard's life hangs by a thread, mirroring the peril facing his chief engineer.
The Pakleds suddenly open a live visual link: a battered, disoriented Geordi is propped by Reginod while Grebnedlog and others brandish replicated phasers and play with them like toys. The …
On the bridge the Pakleds' smiling menace hardens into a direct threat: Grebnedlog appears on the viewscreen with a battered Geordi and replicated phasers, repeatedly stunning the chief to prove …
In the Observation Lounge Riker convenes his senior staff to confront a narrowing, morally fraught problem: Chief Engineer Geordi La Forge is being held hostage by the Pakleds and has …
In the Observation Lounge Riker convenes his senior staff and the situation is distilled to a brutal binary: give the Pakleds access to Enterprise systems or use force. Pulaski presses …
Captain Picard abruptly short-circuits the ritual of surgical consent and compresses the operating room's tempo: brusque, commanding, and restless, he denies the ceremonial exchange so the team can begin. The …
In the Starbase surgical suite the team moves from ritual to action: with Picard restrained on the table the anesthesiologist applies silver neural calipers that send him into a composed, …
Data's cold anthropological read and Troi's empathic judgment combine to recast the Pakleds not as mere curiosities but as dangerous scavengers craving instant power. Faced with Geordi's abduction and no …
Faced with Pakleds who hoard but cannot comprehend technology, the bridge team pivots from brute force to a risky psychological gambit. Data’s cultural reading and Troi’s diagnosis of infantile impatience …
Battered and blinded, Geordi volunteers to negotiate and deliberately downplays the Pakleds' demands, convincing them that the Enterprise's protected memory will take over twenty‑four hours to access. His calm stall—bolstered …
Riker engineers a performative, high‑risk deception over the viewscreen: exploiting the Pakleds' simple mantra and Data's literalism, the senior officers stage an emotional farewell that convinces the scavengers Geordi is …
On the Pakled bridge Riker and the senior staff stage a high-stakes bluff, elevating a battered Geordi into a faux weapons expert to placate Grebnedlog. As the Pakleds accept the …
Geordi is shoved before a bank of crude Pakled turrets and ordered—repeatedly and bluntly—to "make us strong." He reacts with incredulous scoffing at the laughably underpowered weapons, but the menace …
Geordi is shoved before crude Pakled turrets and, humiliated and trapped, is forced to pretend his expertise can empower the laughably weak weapons. He scoffs at their gear, then—under Grebnedlog …
The dual crises hurtle towards their explosive climax. On the Mondor, Geordi, under duress, "upgrades" the Pakleds' crude armaments, transforming them into functional photon torpedoes, a terrifying display of newfound "strength" that thrills his captors. Simultaneously, at Starbase 515, Captain Picard's surgery spirals into a desperate fight for survival, his life ebbing as surgeons battle uncontrollable complications, summoning a biomolecular physiologist in a last-ditch effort. Back on the Enterprise, the crew prepares Sonya's daring bluff—a non-lethal, dazzling energy display from the Bussard collectors designed to simulate overwhelming power. As Worf relays Picard's critical condition, Riker, caught between two impossible choices, makes a decisive stand: he will not abandon Geordi. He initiates a tense, fake firing countdown, projecting an image of overwhelming force. At the precise moment of simulated attack, Geordi, working furiously within the Pakled weapons bay, sabotages their newly armed torpedoes. The Pakleds, humbled and disarmed by the Enterprise's "crimson force-field" and their own weapon failures, concede their weakness and drop their shields. Geordi beams to safety, and the Enterprise races to Starbase 515, where Pulaski stands over a revived, gruffly grateful Picard. The Captain returns to command, his vulnerability now a quiet strength, while Riker delivers a final, poignant lesson to the Pakleds: true strength lies not in stolen weapons, but in restraint and wisdom. The crew, having navigated deception and peril, returns to routine, forever marked by the weaponized compassion they encountered.
In Main Engineering Riker makes a risk-filled command decision: despite Sonya's doubts about Geordi's suitability as a weapons improvisor, Riker and Data argue the tactical necessity of a nonlethal ruse. …
In Engineering Riker pushes forward with a risky, nonlethal ruse: Sonya will simulate overwhelming firepower while Geordi improvises under duress aboard the Mondor. Data frames the plan clinically — timing …
Under crushing time pressure — Starbase demands the Enterprise hurry to Picard's life-or-death surgery — Riker refuses to abandon Geordi. He forces a spotty spectrum link to the Pakled ship, …
When Data detects that the Pakleds have armed crude photon torpedoes, Riker refuses to abandon Geordi and stages an audacious bluff: a forced-spectrum feed to the Mondor bridge, a staged …
Riker forces the crisis to a quick, nonlethal climax: he issues a final ultimatum, the Pakleds drop shields, and Geordi is beamed back to the bridge. The apparent 'crimson blast' …
Riker completes a tense, non‑lethal rescue: after forcing the Pakleds to drop shields, he beams a battered Geordi back to the bridge and puts the ship to warp for Starbase …
Picard awakens in the Starbase surgical suite, confrontational and groggy; Pulaski briskly removes her mask and gloves and bluntly claims she saved his life. The exchange exposes Picard’s vulnerability and …
Picard awakens post-op, scowling and brittle, and immediately tries to reassert control through denial and pride. Dr. Pulaski strips off her gloves, bluntly claims she saved him, and imposes a …