1:[2,#B],6:[1,#I],13:[2,#I],41:[1,#I],80:[1,#I],92:[1,#I],132:[1,#I],140:[6,#I]@1“Contagion” (TNG)@2Stardate 42609.1. The Enterprise -D responds to distress call from Starship Yamato in the Romulan Neutral Zone, but is unable to save the ship or its crew from destruction due to major on-board computer malfunction. Investigation determines the Yamato to have been the victim of a computer software weapon surviving from the long-dead planet Iconia. This weapon is believed to have been transmitted during a sensor scan from an Iconian probe. During the investigation, the Romulan warbird Haakona is similarly infected by the software weapon, but assistance from the Enterprise -D averts destruction of the Romulan craft as well as an interstellar incident.
• A passing Klingon cruiser reports discovering pieces of an unknown space vehicle in the upper atmosphere of the eighth planet in the Theta 116 system. Enterprise -D diverts from scheduled course to investigate.
Just prior to “The Royale” (TNG).
~1:[3,#B],6:[2,#I],72:[1,#I],93:[2,#I],102:[6,#I]@1“The Royale” (TNG)@2Stardate 42625.4. U.S.S. Enterprise -D investigates report of wreckage in orbit of the eighth planet in the previously unmapped Theta 116 system. An elaborate recreation of a 20th-century Earth environment is discovered on the otherwise uninhabitable planetary surface. Investigation determines the environment to have been created by an unknown alien intelligence in an effort to create a habitat for Colonel Steven Richey, the commander of the space vehicle Charybdis. That vehicle had been reported missing in 2037 after the third unsuccessful attempt to explore beyond Earth’s solar system.
• U.S.S. Enterprise -D makes layover stop at Starbase 73.
Just prior to “Time Squared” (TNG).
~1:[3,#B],18:[1,#I],56:[1,#I],90:[1,#I],100:[1,#I],108:[9,#I],118:[25,#I],148:[4,#I],153:[2,#I],162:[4,#I],206:[8,#I],257:[45,#I],303:[2,#I],332:[6,#I]@1“Time Squared” (TNG)@2Stardate 42679.2. Mission to planet Endicor is interrupted by discovery of a duplicate of Enterprise -D shuttlepod 5, drifting in space. Discovered on board the recovered vehicle is a duplicate of Captain Jean-Luc Picard. Both the shuttle and the duplicate captain had apparently come backward in time six hours, during which the Enterprise -D had evidently been lost with all hands except the captain. The time loop is determined to have been caused by a temporal distortion. This distortion — and the impending destruction of the Enterprise -D — is disrupted when Captain Picard orders the Enterprise -D into the center of the phenomenon.
Editors’ Note: The shuttlepod seen in this episode, the El-Baz, is named for former NASA planetary geoscientist Farouk El-Baz, currently on faculty at Brown University. Several years ago, El-Baz worked on a documentary film with Star Trek: The Next Generation executive producer Rick Berman.
• U.S.S. Enterprise -D resumes mission to the Endicor system.
Shortly after “Time Squared.”
• A Talaxian freighter is captured by operatives of the Viidian Sodality. All 23 members of the Talaxian crew are held so that they may serve as involuntary organ donors for Vidiians suffering from a disease they call the phage.
“Faces” (VGR). Six years before the episode (2371).
• Lieutenant Commander Data, while performing modifications on ship’s sensors, detects a radio transmission from a previously unknown life-form in the Selcundi Drema sector. Data responds to the signal. This action is later determined to be in violation of the Starfleet Prime Directive.
“Pen Pals.” Exact date is conjecture, but Data told Picard he first detected the signals about eight weeks prior to the completion of the geological survey. That survey was finished six weeks into the episode, suggesting the signals had been received about two weeks prior.
• U.S.S. Enterprise -D at planet Nasreldine. A crew member contracts a flulike illness there. Afterward, minor readout anomalies require an unscheduled course change to Starbase Montgomery for engineering consultations.
Prior to “The Icarus Factor” (TNG).
~1:[4,#B],7:[2,#I],30:[1,#I],39:[2,#I],61:[1,#I],77:[2,#I],84:[6,#I]@1“The Icarus Factor” (TNG)@2Stardate 42686.4. U.S.S. Enterprise -D at Starbase Montgomery for engineering consultations. Starfleet civilian adviser Kyle Riker, father of William Riker, is a guest aboard the Enterprise -D.
Commander William Riker is offered command of Starship Aries, a small scout ship serving in frontier areas, but he declines the promotion in favor of continued service aboard the Enterprise -D. This is the second time Riker declines the opportunity to command a starship.
• U.S.S. Enterprise -D heads for Beta Kupsic.
Just after “The Icarus Factor” (TNG).
~1:[3,#B],6:[2,#I],143:[10,#I]@1“Pen Pals” (TNG)@2Stardate 42695.3. U.S.S. Enterprise -D on survey mission of star systems in Selcundi Drema sector. Acting Ensign Wesley Crusher is placed in charge of planetary geophysical surveys.
Lieutenant Commander Data reports receipt of a radio signal from a life-form on planet Drema IV. Data also acknowledges responding to the signal, even though such a response was in violation of Prime Directive protection. The signal is determined to be a distress call resulting from massive geologic instability on the planet. Captain Picard determines assistance to be appropriate, even though such intervention is a further violation of the Prime Directive. Picard further orders appropriate steps be taken to minimize cultural contamination from this action.
• Starfleet receives a garbled message from the Ficus sector. The message is later found to be a distress call from a colony in the Bringloid system.
About a month prior to “Up the Long Ladder” (TNG).
~1:[3,#B],6:[2,#I],36:[1,#I],90:[1,#I],137:[1,#I],144:[1,#I],156:[1,#I],177:[1,#I],183:[2,#I],190:[4,#I]@1“Q Who?” (TNG)@2Stardate 42761.3. U.S.S. Enterprise encounters the entity Q at the frontier of Federation territory. Q expresses a desire to become a member of Starfleet. When Picard declines the request, Q sends the Enterprise -D some 7,000 light-years across the galaxy. At the previously uncharted star system J-25, evidence is found of a Class-M planet which exhibits massive surface scarring. The phenomenon is similar to that found at outposts Delta Zero Five and Tarod IX near the Romulan Neutral Zone on stardate 41986.
At System J-25, the Enterprise -D shortly thereafter makes first contact with a Borg spacecraft. The Borg are determined to be a humanoid species making extensive use of cybernetic implants. Their spacecraft is extremely powerful, but highly decentralized, supporting a hivelike shared consciousness. First contact is a Borg incursion on the Enterprise, resulting in severe damage to the Enterprise -D, the loss of shuttle 06, and the death of eighteen Enterprise -D personnel.
Q, apparently satisfied with his demonstration of the hostile and powerful nature of the Borg, later returns the Enterprise -D to Federation space.
• U.S.S. Enterprise -D travels to Starbase 83.
After “Q Who?” (TNG).
~1:[3,#B],43:[2,#I],85:[1,#I],106:[1,#I],114:[2,#I],136:[8,#I]@1“Samaritan Snare” (TNG)@2Stardate 42779.1. Captain Jean-Luc Picard and Ensign Wesley Crusher take personal leave at Starbase 515. Crusher’s leave is for the purpose of taking Starfleet Academy exams. Picard reports to the Starbase hospital for routine replacement of his bionic heart.
U.S.S. Enterprise -D en route to planet Epsilon IX for astronomical survey of Epsilon Pulsar cluster when diverted to investigate a distress call from the Rhomboid Dronegar sector. The distress call is found to have been sent from a Pakled ship, the Mondor. Further investigation reveals the call was a ruse, an unsuccessful attempt to gain access to Federation weapons technology by capturing Enterprise -D chief engineer Geordi La Forge.
• U.S.S. Enterprise -D at Starbase 73. Picard has meeting with Admiral Moore to discuss a distress call received from the Ficus sector.
Just prior to “Up the Long Ladder” (TNG).
~1:[5,#B],8:[2,#I],47:[1,#I],194:[32,#I]@1“Up the Long Ladder” (TNG)@2Stardate 42823.2. U.S.S. Enterprise -D, having departed from Starbase 73, proceeds to the planet Bringloid V in the Ficus sector. A colony on the planet had sent a distress call because of severe solar flares in that system. At Bringloid V, Enterprise -D personnel evacuate all colonists and discover evidence of a second, previously unknown colony, in a nearby system. Investigating further, the missing colony is discovered on a nearby planet called Mariposa. It is learned that due to a disastrous crash landing of their ship, the Mariposa colony began with only five individuals who used cloning technology in an attempt to keep their society populated. The inhabitants of the colony report, however, that replicative fading threatens to make their culture nonviable. The Bringloidi colonists and the Mariposans agree to a joint settlement in an attempt to make both groups viable.
• Starfleet Command begins advance planning to develop a means to defend against a possible Borg attack, based on evidence that the Borg are approaching Federation space. The project is given high priority, but little of use is forthcoming due to the extraordinary power of the Borg.
“Best of Both Worlds, Part I” (TNG). Admiral Hanson said they’d been aware of the Borg and had been working on new defense technologies for over a year prior to the episode.
~1:[2,#B],5:[2,#I],82:[4,#I],95:[1,#I],108:[9,#I]@1“Manhunt” (TNG)@2Stardate 42859.2. U.S.S. Enterprise -D on diplomatic mission to transport Antedian and Betazoid delegates to a conference on the planet Pacifica to consider the question of admitting planet Antede III to the Federation. The telepathic assistance of Betazed ambassador Lwaxana Troi is instrumental in exposing two Antedian delegates as assassins, intent upon disrupting the conference.
• A Federation conference on planet Pacifica convenes to consider the petition of planet Antede III for admission to the United Federation of Planets.
Just after “Manhunt” (TNG).
• Starbase 336 receives an automated transmission from the T’Ong, a Klingon sleeper ship launched in 2290, now returning to Klingon space.
“The Emissary” (TNG). Two days prior to the episode.
~1:[3,#B],14:[1,#I],24:[1,#I],36:[1,#I],45:[1,#I],82:[1,#I],108:[1,#I],116:[1,#I],125:[1,#I],130:[1,#I],165:[26,#I]@1“The Emissary” (TNG)@2Stardate 42901.3. Special Federation emissary K’Ehleyr is dispatched to the Enterprise -D with orders to intercept the Klingon sleeper ship T’Ong near the Boradis system before its crew is automatically revived. The Enterprise -D mission is based on fears that the T’Ong crew, launched prior to the Khitomer peace conference of 2293, still believes that a state of war exists between the United Federation of Planets and the Klingon Empire. K’Ehleyr’s orders include the option to destroy the T’Ong and its crew if necessary, but Captain Picard opposes this course. Instead, he and Lieutenant Worf devise an alternate strategy in which Worf poses as Enterprise -D captain long enough to order the T’Ong’s crew to accept command of K’Ehleyr.
During the T’Ong crisis, Emissary K’Ehleyr and Enterprise -D security chief Worf renew an old romantic relationship, although K’Ehleyr declines to take the Klingon oath of marriage. Unknown to Worf at the time, their liaison results in the conception of a child.
The title of this episode, “The Emissary” (TNG), should not be confused with “Emissary, Parts I and II” (DS9), which was the 2-hour pilot episode for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
~1:[3,#B],6:[2,#I],37:[2,#I],66:[1,#I],76:[1,#I],78:[2,#I],86:[5,#I],132:[35,#I]@1“Peak Performance” (TNG)@2Stardate 42923.4. U.S.S. Enterprise -D participates in strategic simulation exercise near the Braslota star system ordered by Starfleet in preparation for possible conflict with the Borg. Also participating in the exercise is the U.S.S. Hathaway, an older vessel temporarily commanded by William Riker. The entire operation is overseen by Zakdorn tactician Sirna Kolrami. The exercise is briefly interrupted by the Ferengi spacecraft Kreechta, whose commander misinterprets the tactical importance of the obsolete Hathaway.
• U.S.S. Enterprise -D returns to the nearest starbase.
Just after “Peak Performance” (TNG).
• Alexana Devos accepts a job as security director with the Eastern Continental government of planet Rutia IV. Two days later, a terrorist bomb destroys a shuttlebus, killing sixty schoolchildren. Operatives of the Ansata separatist movement are implicated in the incident.
“The High Ground” (TNG). Exact date is conjecture, but Alexana said she started as director six months prior to the episode. She also said the shuttlebus bombing happened two days after she took the job.
~1:[4,#B],7:[2,#I]@1“Shades of Gray” (TNG)@2Stardate 42976.1. U.S.S. Enterprise -D on survey mission to planet Surata IV, when Commander William Riker is injured by accidental contact with indigenous plant form.
• Star Trek: The Next Generation – Year 3 Begins
Dr. Katherine Pulaski completes her assignment on the U.S.S. Enterprise -D and is replaced by Dr. Beverly Crusher, who returns after a year at Starfleet Medical. Geordi La Forge is promoted to the rank of lieutenant commander. Worf is promoted to full lieutenant.
These changes occurred after the end of the second season but before the first episode of the third.
• Starfleet Command studies the threat posed by the Borg and concludes that significant defensive resources will be needed when the Borg reach Federation space. Accordingly, Starfleet begins development of a new type of starship. While officially classified as an escort, the new Defiant -class vessels will be heavily armed and are specifically designed to meet the Borg in battle.
“The Search, Part I” (DS9). Five years before the episode (2371).
~1:[2,#B],5:[2,#I],43:[1,#I],84:[28,#I],113:[8,#I],185:[18,#I]@1“Evolution” (TNG)@2Stardate 43125.8. U.S.S. Enterprise -D on astrophysical research mission for Dr. Paul Stubbs in the Kavis Alpha Sector. The mission, to deliver an instrumented probe into the Kavis Alpha neutron star, is accomplished successfully despite a systems failure aboard the Enterprise -D due to the activity of a newly evolved nanite lifeform. The Nanites, accidentally evolved from nanotechnologic robots developed for medical applications, now are found to be an intelligent species, and are granted colonization rights on planet Kavis Alpha IV.
Editors’ Note: This episode was actually filmed after “The Ensigns of Command” (TNG) but was aired first, since “Evolution” (TNG) also dealt with Beverly Crusher returning to the Enterprise -D after her absence in the second season.
• Romulan admiral Alidar Jarok is censured for his arguments to the Romulan High Command that a war with the Federation would destroy the Romulan Star Empire. Jarok is reassigned to command a distant sector of the empire. It is later learned that this reassignment is part of a plan to provide the idealistic Jarok with false strategic information as a test of loyalty.
“The Defector” (TNG). Exact date is conjecture; Jarok said his reassignment was four months prior to the episode.
~1:[5,#B],11:[2,#I],93:[9,#I],103:[3,#I],107:[5,#I],113:[9,#I],127:[22,#I],151:[9,#I],162:[3,#I],166:[2,#I],194:[7,#I]@1“The Ensigns of Command” (TNG)@2(No stardate given in episode.) U.S.S. Enterprise -D receives message from the Sheliak Corporate demanding the removal of Federation colonists on planet Tau Cygna V. The Sheliak claim the settlement exists in contravention of the Treaty of Armens, in which the Federation ceded the planet to the Sheliak. Captain Picard negotiates with the Sheliak to gain sufficient time to evacuate the colonists.
Lieutenant Commander Data transports to Tau Cygna V via shuttlepod and negotiates with colonists to evacuate their settlement in the time allowed by the Sheliak.
Editors’ Note: The shuttlepod seen in this episode, the Onizuka, was named for Challenger astronaut Ellison Onizuka. The shuttle Onizuka was recreated in floral form as part of a Star Trek: The Next Generation float in the 1992 Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena. Also part of that float was an enormous floral model of the U.S.S. Enterprise -D, and a second shuttlepod named in honor of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry.
• U.S.S. Enterprise -D receives a distress call from the Federation colony on planet Delta Rana IV. The transmission reports the colony is under attack from an unidentified spacecraft.
Three days prior to “The Survivors” (TNG).
~1:[3,#B],6:[2,#I],135:[2,#I],142:[5,#I],181:[12,#I]@1“The Survivors” (TNG)@2Stardate 43152.4. U.S.S. Enterprise -D is at planet Delta Rana IV in response to distress call and for possible confrontation with a hostile force. Investigation reveals that the entire colony has been destroyed, except for a single dwelling, that of Kevin and Rishon Uxbridge. The mission is interrupted by the attack of what is apparently a Husnock spacecraft. Further investigation determines that both the attack and the image of Rishon Uxbridge are illusions created by Kevin, who the crew learns is a powerful entity known as a Douwd. Kevin reveals that the colony had been destroyed by a Husnock attack some years prior, that in anger he had used his powers to destroy utterly the entire Husnock species, and that he must now live with the guilt of that act.
• U.S.S. Enterprise -D heads for Starbase 133.
Just after “The Survivors” (TNG).
• D’Ghor begins a systematic financial attack on the House of Kozak, preying on Kozak’s weakness for gambling. The House of D’Ghor and the House of Kozak had been sworn enemies for seven generations.
“The House of Quark” (DS9). About five years before the episode (2371).
~1:[5,#B],8:[2,#I],80:[1,#I],130:[34,#I]@1“Who Watches the Watchers?” (TNG)@2Stardate 43173.5. U.S.S. Enterprise -D on resupply mission to Federation anthropological observation team on planet Mintaka III. The proto-Vulcan humanoid inhabitants there are at the Bronze Age level and are thus still subject to Prime Directive protection.
The mission is complicated when the observation team’s holographic duck-blind briefly fails, resulting in cultural contamination when Mintakan natives see the Federation facility. The contamination is made worse when one of the natives receives medical care from Enterprise -D personnel and interprets the experience as a fulfillment of local religious prophesy, believing Captain Picard to be a deity. Picard employs limited exposure to Starfleet personnel and technology in order to minimize the effect of the contamination by convincing Mintakan leader Nuria that he is not their god.
Editors’ Note: The Mintakan tapestry given to Picard at the end of the episode can sometimes be seen in later episodes as a decoration on the back of Picard’s chair in his living quarters.
