star trek next generation episode aquiel

Aquiel (episode)

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Geordi La Forge falls in love with a woman accused of murder in an isolated communication relay station. The Enterprise crew investigates the crime; the only other suspect is a Klingon officer who frequently visited the station.

• 1.2 Act One
• 1.3 Act Two
• 1.4 Act Three
• 1.5 Act Four
• 1.6 Act Five
• 1.7 Log entries
• 2 Memorable quotes
• 3.1 Production history
• 3.2 Story and script
• 3.3 Production
• 3.4 Continuity
• 3.5 Reception
• 3.6 Video and DVD releases
• 4.1 Starring
• 4.2 Also starring
• 4.3 Guest stars
• 4.4 Co-stars
• 4.5 Uncredited co-stars
• 4.6 Stand-ins
• 4.7.1 Other references
• 4.8 External links

Summary [ ]

Relay Station 47

The USS Enterprise -D has sent an away team composed of Dr. Crusher , Lieutenant Commander La Forge , Commander Riker , and Lieutenant Worf over to the Communications Relay Station 47 . Upon arriving, they find the station has been abandoned and the audio monitoring system in disarray, with a few thousand subspace messages playing all at once. La Forge manages to deactivate the monitoring system. Investigating a banging noise from a service duct, Riker and La Forge find a large, fluffy white dog , hiding there. The station's shuttlecraft is missing, along with both Starfleet officers , Aquiel Uhnari and Keith Rocha . Dr. Crusher discovers cell residue on a deck plate, which must be the remains of one of the personnel.

Act One [ ]

Crusher confirms that the blood traces match those of Uhnari, so the doctor assumes the cellular residue is Uhnari's also, but must study it further in her lab to make certain. Geordi La Forge explains to Riker that encrypted subspace messages are all sent through a particular channel, and that someone has tried to bypass the access protocols, perhaps taking or rewriting some of the messages. He also mentions that the security lockouts froze up when it happened. La Forge accesses the station's logs from the nearby quarters , but at first can see only a handful of official and personal entries by Uhnari. Perusing the logs, he discovers that the dog was Uhnari's pet. Uhnari seems to be an upbeat person, though she appeared to have some intense friction with Rocha. The computer cuts out.

Meanwhile in sickbay , Dr. Crusher tries to get a clear DNA sample from the metallic plate, she guesses to Picard and Riker that a high-level phaser blast caused the death. It also could have been a Klingon disruptor , but Picard needs evidence since Klingon attacks have not occurred against the Federation for seven years.

In the quarters on board the station, La Forge orders a diagnostic while he gets an iced coffee from the room's replicator . Soon, he gets a visual of Uhnari.

Act Two [ ]

Uhnari's personal letters continue to reveal her to be a spirited, romantic Haliian woman who was abused by her father, is intensely homesick for the rest of her family and traditions, and has difficulty getting along with "egomaniac" Rocha. At one point, she confesses countermanding his orders by taking on additional com traffic, which Rocha ordered her not to, as he believed they could not handle the signal load. Uhnari tells her sister that Rocha will be furious with her when he eventually finds out. Uhnari also mentions in her log that a Commander Morag , an aggressive Klingon , has been harassing and threatening the station. La Forge reports this to Captain Jean-Luc Picard , who then asks the Klingon governor Torak to investigate. At first, the governor is hesitant to help but Picard uses his influence as Gowron 's Arbiter of Succession to convince him to assist.

La Forge watches more of Lieutenant Uhnari's personal logs in his quarters. In the log, she states that she misses her mother's own muskan seed punch and how the replicators on the station cannot quite make it the same when a loud bang is heard. Uhnari asks if it is Rocha. The log suddenly goes to static.

Back on the station, Worf, Riker and La Forge continue the investigation. Worf has discovered traces of Klingon DNA . La Forge has most of Uhnari's logs, but cannot find Rocha's, telling Riker that whatever happened to the station's encrypted messages had a cascade effect on the communications storage system.

Eventually, the governor arrives at the Enterprise 's position on the IKS Qu'Vat . Worf escorts Torak to the observation lounge and the governor has Uhnari brought in, with her uniform torn and looking battered but very much alive.

Act Three [ ]

Uhnari claims that Rocha suddenly and irrationally attacked her; she first tried to access the weapons locker , but next remembers escaping in the shuttle; she was picked up by the Klingons. Possibly owing to a head injury, Uhnari's memory for exactly what happened is spotty, she notes it's as if her memories of the incident have been drained out of her, but she doesn't remember Morag on the station when she left. Torak is faced with the evidence of Klingon DNA on the station, and continues to be angered by the accusation of any Klingon involvement. He permits them to talk to Morag. Dr. Crusher now assumes that the cellular residue on the station's deck plate is Rocha, but continues to analyze it.

While they wait for Commander Morag to arrive, La Forge escorts Uhnari out of the lounge, telling her he has a friend of hers that is probably eager to see her. La Forge brings Uhnari to his quarters, where he reunites her with her dog. The dog's name is revealed to be Maura , named after a character in Cold Moon Over Blackwater , a gothic novel . La Forge says Uhnari probably wants to be left alone in her assigned quarters after her recent ordeal, but she tells him that she would like to go to a place that has a lot of activity since she has spent nine months on the station with only Rocha to talk to. They go to Ten Forward , where La Forge reveals that he knows quite a bit about Uhnari, such as getting her muskan seed punch to drink and that she lived on a house on a hill growing up. When the lieutenant is surprised, La Forge confesses that he has reviewed her logs, as well as her personal correspondence. He explains that they thought she had been murdered and needed to investigate. Visibly upset, she first sees it as an invasion of privacy, but eventually comes to understand. La Forge brings up her contemptuous relationship with her superior officer, Keith Rocha. She considered him hostile and obnoxious and felt she had to battle him to hold her own. But, she insists, she did not want to see him dead. La Forge asks why Rocha attacked her but Uhnari does not know. While taking Uhnari to her quarters, she asks La Forge, since he knows her the best from anyone on the Enterprise , if she seems like a person who would murder someone. La Forge admits she doesn't. She wishes him a good night in Haliian.

Riker has Rocha's and Uhnari's Starfleet files brought up to Picard on his desktop monitor . According to Rocha's file, he seems to have been a bright and promising officer, not as nasty as Uhnari's experience of him. Uhnari's records, on the other hand, show her to be difficult and argumentative from her previous posting on Deriben V . Picard orders Riker to examine the shuttle thoroughly to shed more light on her story, since there's still no hard evidence. There, Worf finds a missing phaser from the station in a small compartment under the shuttlecraft's helm controls: it is set to kill.

Act Four [ ]

" It was taken from the weapons locker on the station. " " I told you, I don't remember what happened! "

Circumstantial evidence now points to Uhnari as possibly having killed Rocha, but she hotly denies this to Riker and Worf. Riker informs her that the phaser was found set on level ten and all phasers in weapons lockers are required to be set on level one. Uhnari still cannot recall what happened after her struggle with Rocha, but admits she may have used the phaser in self-defense. Riker tells her that to inflict the cellular damage found in Rocha's remains, it would take a sustained phaser blast on level ten of thirty to forty seconds. At this point, La Forge defends her, saying that the phaser found hasn't even been established to be the murder weapon. La Forge tells Riker he is heading back to the station to try to retrieve Rocha's logs. Riker stops him on the way out and asks him as a friend and not his superior officer that he not get involved more with Uhnari, so his relationship doesn't cloud his judgment. La Forge responds back that he's " not the one making judgments. "

Commander Morag arrives shortly thereafter. He describes how he investigated the station when they did not answer his hails. He also confesses that he was the one who tried to bypass the access protocols and filched 27 priority Starfleet messages, but that while he saw blood and signs of a struggle, he did not kill anyone. Torak has Morag remain on the Enterprise under Starfleet custody at Picard's request, as he does not want to cause a diplomatic incident with the Federation.

On the station, La Forge discovers that Uhnari had established a subspace link with a console on the relay station and deleted a number of Rocha's personal logs , including a letter he was planning to send to Starfleet Command . Citing her as "belligerent and insubordinate", Rocha had planned to ask for a formal hearing . She explains that she did so because she was afraid that if Starfleet found the letter, they would place the blame on her for the murder. Knowing her pattern of running away in panic when she is afraid, La Forge advises her to stay and face what has happened, and she agrees. They kiss passionately.

On the Enterprise , Dr. Crusher continues to examine the cellular residue in sickbay; she is having trouble getting a stable DNA reading and finds that the nucleotide sequence is fluctuating. Suddenly, upon contact with her skin, the residue takes the form of her hand.

Act Five [ ]

A coalescent organism

On the station, Uhnari and La Forge are quite close, and she introduces him to a Haliian custom in which their minds can telepathically connect, amplified by a large crystal ornament called a canar .

Meanwhile, Crusher explains to Picard that the remains are not Rocha's either, but a coalescent organism that feeds off other lifeforms , then assumes their shape. Rocha never had worked at the station; it was the shapeshifter that killed him at his last post of duty, in the remote Triona system , and taken his place. Crusher warns that what appears to be Uhnari may actually be the creature, but the same also applies for Morag. Worf and Riker leave to find them. Riker enters as La Forge and Uhnari are linked by the canar, aiming his phaser at the lieutenant and telling her to step aside from La Forge.

While Uhnari and Morag are being examined, La Forge returns to his quarters, where he's been keeping Maura. The dog approaches him; he assumes she wants to play, but suddenly, Maura begins to morph into the coalescent organism they are searching for, and attacks La Forge. With the organism blocking his escape route, he grabs his phaser that was in his drawer and fires, but it does no damage to the organism. La Forge resets his phaser to maximum and fires again, vaporizing the organism completely. Catching his breath, La Forge sits on the floor relieved and thankful to be alive.

In Ten Forward, La Forge tells his theory, that Uhnari's memory loss after the Rocha-like creature attacked her was caused by the beginning of coalescing process; she felt her memory was being drained out because it was. Uhnari realizes she may indeed have taken the phaser and shot. She is grateful to La Forge for his advice and friendship, but refuses his offer to recommend her for a post in communications on board. She knows she is not an ideal Starfleet officer, but tells him she is considering staying in Starfleet and perhaps one day serving aboard the Enterprise – when she can earn the position on her own merits. La Forge takes her hands and holds them. She holds his as well.

Log entries [ ]

• Captain's log, USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D), 2369
• Medical officer's log, USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D)

Memorable quotes [ ]

" The Klingon Empire will not stand for these kinds of lies! " " Governor Torak… I apologize. I can see that you honestly didn't know what happened aboard the station. I will just have to take this matter up with Gowron. I'm really sorry that we bothered you. "

" We found traces of Klingon DNA on the station. " " You still try to blame us?! " " Have the courage to admit your mistakes. Or are you a lo'Be Vos ? " " At least I do not wear the uniform of the petaQ ! "

" Governor, we are merely exploring all the possibilities. Lieutenant Uhnari's logs reported that Commander Morag had been harassing the station. " " He was doing his job. " " If he was only doing his job, then I'm sure you won't mind if we spoke with him. " " Very well. In the interests of diplomacy, I will allow you to speak to Morag. But my patience has limits! "

" You know me better than anyone here. Do I seem like the kind of person who would murder someone? " " No, you don't. "

" I think you've let your personal feelings cloud your judgment. " " I'm not the one making judgments. "

" Geordi? " " I can see you. Oh, and I can feel you. "

" What are you doing, Commander? " " That may not be Lieutenant Uhnari. "

" Concerned? "

Background information [ ]

Production history [ ].

• Final draft script: 5 November 1992 [1]
• Premiere airdate: 1 February 1993
• First UK airdate: 4 October 1995

Story and script [ ]

Filming the episode

• This story began as another attempt at providing La Forge with a recurring romance. Jeri Taylor recalled, " We were looking for a new spin to put on a love story. A straight love story didn't seem good enough. " ( Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages , p. 269)
• At Michael Piller 's suggestion, the romance was tied into a mystery in the manner of the 1944 film Laura , starring Gene Tierney , in which a detective investigating the murder of a woman named Laura falls in love with her, only to discover that she is alive and may herself be a killer. ( Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion  (2nd ed., p. 232))
• With Colm Meaney ( Miles O'Brien ) and Rosalind Chao 's ( Keiko O'Brien ) departure from the series to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , TNG had lost its only married couple. It was hoped that this episode would show that marriage and serious relationships still existed in the 24th century . As Taylor observed, " We now portray the twenty-fourth century as being full of single people […] It seems to me that's not the comment we should be making – that marriage and serious relationships do survive into the twenty-fourth century. " ( Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion  (2nd ed., p. 232)) One season later, however, recurring Nurse Alyssa Ogawa and her husband Andrew Powell started a family, so eventually the idea was pursued.
• Brannon Braga , Ronald D. Moore and Taylor spent two days breaking the story. Braga recalled that it was a "torturous experience". ( Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages , p. 269)
• At first, Aquiel was to have been the killer, but it was felt that this was too similar to the film Basic Instinct . Keith Rocha and Morag were next considered, but dismissed as too obvious. According to Moore, " At one point, we finally said 'Why not the dog?' He had always been in the script; we had meant to leave him with Geordi from that time on. " Moore joked that he and Braga had considered calling the episode "Murder, My Pet!" ( Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion  (2nd ed., p. 233))
• Early drafts of the script included more backstory and family history for La Forge. This was dropped as it was felt that it was loading down the story. ( Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages , p. 269-270)
• The writers struggled with creating a mystery that couldn't be solved by 24th century technology. Moore remembered, " We were at pains trying to make the murder mystery harder than it needed to be, so the script became very technobabble heavy. " He added, " Technology had run amok on the show. People had gotten careless about establishing what devices like the tricorder could do, and we were stuck with that. Walk into a room with a tricorder and it could tell you who'd been in there, and what they'd done […] We were always trying to trip up the technology. It was just too powerful. " ( Star Trek: The Next Generation 365 , p. 290)

Production [ ]

• Maura was played by Friday , a terrier mix. The dog had previously played Commissioner Robert Scorpio's dog on General Hospital . ( Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion  (2nd ed., p. 233))
• The golden tape in Aquiel Uhnari's quarters aboard the station was previously worn by Nehemiah Persoff as Palor Toff in the third season episode " The Most Toys ".
• The look of the coalescent organism disappointed the staff. Visual Effects Supervisor Ronald B. Moore recalled that many names were given to the creature, and that " Mr. Peanut was probably the kindest that I had. " ( Select Historical Data Year Six: To CGI or Not to CGI , TNG Season 6 DVD special feature) Moore noted that the effect was subcontracted out and was delivered without enough time for the touch-ups to add texture and motion that he felt were needed. ( Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion  (2nd ed., p. 233))

Continuity [ ]

• It is noted that at this point there has been no Klingon raid on the Federation in "seven years" (i.e. since 2362 ). Ronald D. Moore added this to show that the situation could still be uneasy in the Federation-Klingon alliance. ( Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion  (2nd ed., p. 233))
• There are several references barely legible in Keith Rocha 's log on the screen, including his linking of an Andorian comm channel, having a competition with a Ryan aboard the USS Saratoga , Starbase 237 in the Delta Vega sector , and that Starfleet had diverted several starships to "the Epsilon IX station ", implying they rebuilt it after its destruction by V'ger in Star Trek: The Motion Picture .

Reception [ ]

• Many production staff members were disappointed with this episode, considered to be the weakest of the generally good sixth season . ( Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion  (2nd ed., p. 233))
• Jeri Taylor felt that Renée Jones was not suited to the nature of the series and that there was little chemistry between her and LeVar Burton . She commented, "Star Trek sometimes does to actors what it does to writers – people who are very effective in one kind of thing feel very exposed. So I don't think this was quite her cup of tea. " ( Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion  (2nd ed., p. 233))
• When asked what he would have done differently in his time on Star Trek , Ronald D. Moore stated that he would not have written "Aquiel". ( AOL chat , 1997 )
• Moore did, however, enjoy the Klingon subplot. " I thought it was a nice little runner. I didn't want to make that any biggeer than it was. But in the final product, it was one of the more intriguing things […] it was just a cool little C story. " ( Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages , p. 269)
• Brannon Braga had mixed feelings. He recalled, " I thought it was going to be terrible, but when I sat down and watched it I kind of liked the mystery. I rather enjoyed that the dog did it. Ultimately, I didn't think the romance part worked but I liked the feel of the episode, which had a rather tragic, mysterious feel to it. " ( Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages , p. 269)

Video and DVD releases [ ]

• UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video ): Volume 70, 6 September 1993
• As part of the TNG Season 6 DVD collection

Links and references [ ]

Starring [ ].

• Patrick Stewart as Capt. Jean-Luc Picard
• Jonathan Frakes as Cmdr. William Riker

Also starring [ ]

• LeVar Burton as Lt. Cmdr. Geordi La Forge
• Michael Dorn as Lieutenant Worf
• Gates McFadden as Dr. Beverly Crusher
• Marina Sirtis as Counselor Deanna Troi
• Brent Spiner as Lt. Commander Data

Guest stars [ ]

• Renée Jones as Aquiel Uhnari
• Wayne Grace as Torak

Co-stars [ ]

• Reg E. Cathey as Morag
• Majel Barrett as Computer Voice

Uncredited co-stars [ ]

• Arratia as Alfonse Pacelli
• Michael Braveheart as Martinez
• Cameron as Kellogg
• Tracee Lee Cocco as Jae
• John Copage as science division officer
• Friday as Maura
• Christie Haydon as command division ensign
• Kerry Hoyt as operations division ensign
• Arvo Katajisto as Torigan
• Rad Milo as operations division ensign
• Michael Moorehead as science division ensign
• Joycelyn Robinson as Gates
• Noriko Suzuki as operations division ensign
• Natalie Wood as Bailey
• Command division lieutenant
• Female command division officer
• Female science division officer
• Klingon officer
• Keith Rocha
• Ten Forward waitress

Stand-ins [ ]

• David Keith Anderson – stand-in for LeVar Burton
• Debbie David – stand-in for Brent Spiner
• Michael Echols – stand-in for Michael Dorn
• Nora Leonhardt – stand-in for Marina Sirtis
• Lorine Mendell – stand-in for Gates McFadden
• Richard Sarstedt – stand-in for Jonathan Frakes
• Dennis Tracy – stand-in for Patrick Stewart

References [ ]

23rd century ; 2362 ; 2368 ; 47 ; accusation ; alpha shift ; Aquiel's parents ; Arbiter of Succession ; audio monitoring system ; bark ; Batarael ; beta shift ; canar ; cellular level ; coalescent organism ; Cold Moon Over Blackwater ; communication relay station ; cycle ; deck plate ; Deriben V ; diagnostic cycle ; disruptors ; DNA ; duty engineer ; duty roster ; evidence ; Fatal Revenge, The ; Federation ; Federation-Klingon border ; formal hearing ; generation ; gothic fiction ; governor ; Gowron ; Haliian ; Haliian language ; Horath ; hour ; iced coffee ; impulse propulsion officer ; irritable ; Klingons ; Klingon Empire ; Klingonese ; Klingon patrol ship ; Klingon space ; level 2 diagnostic ; level 2 specialist ; level 3 diagnostic ; lie ; Maura (character); Maura (imposter); memory module ; message delay buffer ; micro-vaporize ; Milky Way Galaxy ; Muskan seed punch ; network relay tech ; nucleotide sequences ; nightstand ; nowadays ; oumriel ; Pendleton ; Personal log, Aquiel Uhnari ; Personal log, Keith Rocha ; petaQ ; phase inducer ; phaser discharge ; pooch ; phaser, type 2 ; Qu'Vat , IKS ; Relay Station 47 ; Relay Station 194 ; remote sector ; Sector 2520 ; sense of humor ; service duct ; Shianna ; shuttlecraft ; Starbase 12 ; Starbase 212 ; Starfleet ; Starfleet Command ; subspace relay station ; suspect ; transporter systems officer ; Triona outpost ; Triona system ; Triona system sector ; Type 6 shuttlecraft ; Uhnari's former commanding officer ; Verne ; Vor'cha -class ; waiting list ; warp propulsion officer ; wig

Other references [ ]

• Personal Service Record – Keith Rocha : Beta'Elan Minor ; Drexler, Douglas ; Mare Tranquillitatis , USS ; Network relay technician ; New Lagos ; Omega Cluster ; Ops ; Rocha, Bradley T. ; Rocha, Wendy D. ; Sector Ipai
• Subspace Com Link 047 : Delta Vega sector ; Epsilon IX station ; Rocha, Keith ; Sector 32834 ; Starbase 11 ; Starbase 237 ; Starbase 515 ; Taylor
• Sector Ipai Relay Log : Caroliqe , CGN ; CGN ; Charleston , USS ; Commnet Three ; Commnet Six ; Commnet Seven ; Commnet Ten ; extragalactic space ; GCA ; Hood , USS ; K'Warko , USS ; Mark VI warp drive ; Merrimac , USS ; Metlaok , GCA ; Quiele , USS ; Relay Station 001 ; Relay Station 67 ; Relay Station 102-A ; Relay Station 452 ; Relay Station 8110 ; Relay Station 902N ; Romulan Neutral Zone ; Sector 001 ; Sector 0912 ; Sector 1540 ; Sector 5501 ; Sector 6701 ; Sector 8912 ; Sector 21834 ; Sector 22855 ; Sector 23861 ; Sector 25712 ; Sector 80912 ; Sector 89102 ; Starbase 56 ; Starbase 78 ; Starbase 4112 ; Starbase Meta ; Starfleet Commnet One ; Starfleet Commnet Three ; Starfleet Commnet Four ; Starfleet Commnet Seven ; Zhukov , USS
• Starfleet Comm Traffic 77813 : Molokai , SS ; Science Station 0812
• Ops Record 44712 : Research Station 091
• Personal log, Keith Rocha : Epsilon IX station ; Epsilon IX starships
• Starship mission status : Ajax , USS ; Alpha Laputa IV ; Ambassador -class ; Apollo -class ; Aries , USS ; Berlin , USS ; Beta Mahoga system ; Bradbury , USS ; Bradbury -class ; Charleston , USS ; Constellation -class ; Epsilon Ashanti III ; Excelsior -class ; Fearless , USS ; Goddard , USS ; Hood , USS ; Korolev -class ; Merced -class ; Merrimac , USS ; Monitor , USS ; Nebula -class ; New Orleans -class ; pulsar ; Renaissance -class ; Repulse , USS ; Romulan Neutral Zone ; sector ; Sector 21538 ; Sector 21602 ; Sector 22036 ; Sector 22055 ; Sector 22358 ; Sector 22846 ; Sector 22853 ; Sector 23079 ; Starbase 174 ; Starbase 414 ; Thomas Paine , USS ; Trieste , USS ; Victory , USS ; Vulcan Science Academy ; warp drive ; Zhukov , USS
• Spacecraft Systems Status : Bussard collector ; captain's yacht ; class M ; gross vehicle mass ; impulse engine ; main shuttlebay Mars ; navigational deflector ; observation lounge ; phaser bank ; service docking port ; shuttlebay 2 ; shuttlebay 3 ; torpedo launcher ; umbilical connect port ; Utopia Planitia ; warp nacelle
• Engineering Dept Duty Roster : chief engineer ; duty engineer ; impulse propulsion officer ; transporter systems officer ; warp propulsion officer

External links [ ]

• " Aquiel " at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• " Aquiel " at Wikipedia
• "Aquiel" at StarTrek.com
• " Aquiel " at MissionLogPodcast.com , a Roddenberry Star Trek podcast
• "Aquiel" script  at Star Trek Minutiae
• " Aquiel " at the Internet Movie Database
• 3 ISS Enterprise (NCC-1701)

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http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS6E12Aquiel

Recap / Star Trek: The Next Generation S6E12 "Aquiel"

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Original air date: February 1, 1993

The Enterprise visits the isolated Relay Station 47 and discovers that the two lieutenants stationed there, Aquiel Uhnari and Keith Rocha, are both missing. Only a dog and a pool of organic sludge remains, suggesting that there has been a murder. The crew begins their investigation by analyzing the genetic material and going over the station logs.

Geordi begins watching the personal messages of Aquiel, an attractive young Haliian. Aquiel's communications to her sister describe going stir crazy in her post, having repeated nightmares, unwelcome visits from the local Klingon Commander Morag, and growing tensions with her new crewmate Rocha. As Geordi befriends the woman's dog and hangs out in her quarters, he starts developing a crush on her. Her last communication is alarming: she reacts to the sound of a loud bang and calls out to Rocha before the feed cuts off.

Worf discovers traces of Klingon DNA on the station. Picard questions the local Klingon Governor Torak and presses him into helping the investigation by threatening to go over his head. Torvak visits the ship, bringing with him a very much alive Aquiel, who he says was found fleeing the station in Klingon space. Aquiel has little memory of what happened, saying that it feels like her memories of the event have been sucked out of her. Geordi quickly ingratiates himself to her and takes her side, trying to help clear her name. Aquiel displays mutual attraction to Geordi.

Things look bad for Aquiel, however. Her descriptions of Rocha as a combative officer don't jibe with his flawless personnel records. Meanwhile, she is the one with a reputation for being difficult. A missing phaser from the station is found on her shuttlecraft, set to Kill. Further, she's caught deleting a negative assessment of her written by Rocha. Geordi is alarmed that she has both motive and opportunity for murder. Riker advises Geordi to take a step back, but he insists on continuing to help her. The couple's relationship progresses into some necking. Meanwhile, Morag arrives and denies knowing anything of a murder, claiming he beamed aboard after everyone was gone. He is forced to admit, however, that he stole some Starfleet logs while he was there.

In Sick Bay, Crusher notes the organic sludge they found on the station is suddenly becoming active. It reaches out to touch her hand, then generates a perfect copy of it. She determines that the material is not Rocha's remains but part of a "coalescent organism" that takes the form of creatures it feeds on. The crew determines that Rocha must have already been a coalescent organism when he arrived on the station, which explains his change in personality. The question is who the coalescent organism is now: Aquiel or Morag?

The crew dispatches security teams to confront Aquiel and Morag. Aquiel is in the middle of a ceremony to telepathically commune with Geordi, telling him that he is about to get closer to her than anyone in his life. But Riker arrives to take her prisoner before he can either get eaten or laid. As both Aquiel and Morag are studied, Geordi returns to his quarters, where Aquiel's dog suddenly becomes aggressive and turns into a giant goo monster. The dog was the coalescent organism all along. Geordi manages to kill it with a phaser.

In the aftermath, Geordi offers to put in a good word for Aquiel so she can serve on the Enterprise , but she decides she'd rather make it there on her own merits. They hold hands, and the ship flies away.

Tropes featured in "Aquiel":

• Aesop Amnesia : This is the second time that Geordi has been burned for Loving a Shadow , after " Galaxy's Child ." Last time, he learned that he should have been up front about his familiarity with the woman of his affections. This time, Geordi still doesn't immediately warn Aquiel that he's been watching her private communications. Just like Brahms, she gets creeped out by his unexplained familiarity with her before he guiltily comes clean. Luckily for him, she gets over it a lot faster.
• Chekhov's Gunman : Aquiel's dog is the only living being found on the relay station when the Enterprise checks on it. We later find out why, as the dog is actually the coalescent being that everyone is searching for.
• Continuity Nod : Picard recalls being the Arbiter of Succession for Gowron.
• Cunning Linguist : When checking the list of station personnel, Geordi's pronunciation of the name 'Uhnari' is different than the flat American / British r that the others use, hinting that he has knowledge of Haliian. He picked it up when his family was stationed on the planet.
• Dispense with the Pleasantries : Governor Torak when he comes aboard the Enterprise . "Do not bore me with your human pleasantries."
• The Dog Was the Mastermind : Aquiel's dog was consumed and replaced by the coalescent.
• Everyone Is Single : The writers realized this trope was in play after the O'Briens left for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , so they tried to bring in a love interest for Geordi.
• Kill and Replace : The coalescent's MO — its natural life cycle, in fact.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia : Aquiel claims to not completely remember what happened when Keith attacked her. Riker calls it convenient, but in the denouement Geordi speculates that it was because the coalescent was trying to steal her form.
• Lighthouse Point : The subspace navigation array where Aquiel was stationed is essentially a sci-fi version of the trope. Complete with dark and eerie murder mystery.
• Loving a Shadow : Geordi is at it again. He has to listen to Aquiel's video letters and personal logs to gather clues about her apparent murder and quickly develops a crush on her. Even after learning his lesson when this happened to him with Leah Brahms, it again takes the woman getting creeped out for him to admit why he's already so familiar with her.
• Military Brat : Geordi's background as a well-traveled Starfleet kid comes back here.
• No Kill like Overkill : Discussed. When Aquiel argues that if she shot Rocha with a phaser, it must have been in self defense, but Riker notes that it would take over 30 seconds of sustained phaser fire on the Kill setting to reduce him to the organic slurry that was found on the station. Worf points out that Klingon disruptors would get it done a lot faster.
• Not Helping Your Case : Aquiel is already under suspicion of murdering Rocha when she tries to secretly erase a poor performance report he was about to send to Starfleet. She's trying to protect her career, but it just makes it look even more like she had a motive to murder him.
• Not Himself : It's implied that this was the case with Rocha, as his Starfleet records paint a very different picture of him from the one described in Uhnari's logs — because the being she met wasn't really him. Also, when Uhnari learns that her dog has been chewing Geordi's shoes, she comments " That's not like you... "
• Obstructive Bureaucrat : The Klingon governor from the sector across the border is needlessly uncooperative throughout the entire affair.
• Pardon My Klingon : Worf: Have the courage to admit your mistakes. Or are you a lo'Be Vos ? Torak: At least I do not wear the uniform of a petaQ '!
• Posthumous Character : Rocha. Aquiel describes him as an unprofessional jerk, but his files indicate that he was a model officer. Curious...
• Reassigned to Antarctica : Aquiel was transferred to a one-year tour on Relay Station 47 on the Klingon border because her previous commanding officer didn't like her attitude. There's no explanation for why the exemplary officer Rocha got assigned to the same post.
• Recycled In Space : The premise of the episode is based on Laura . Once Aquiel turns up alive, the plot follows Basic Instinct with her as the suspected murderer seducing the investigator. The climax turns the plot into The Thing (1982) where Aquiel isn't the murderer, it's really an alien shape-shifter that consumes other creatures and mimics them.
• Basically every guest character rotates through the 'suspect' position—first Keith Rocha, when they think the residue is Aquiel's remains. Then a Klingon officer is suspected of the murder, due to his DNA being found on the station. Then Aquiel is revealed to be alive, and everyone thinks she murdered Rocha to keep him from reporting her bad behavior.
• When trying to figure out what happened on the station, Geordi listens to Aquiel twice mention having the same nightmare over and over. This ultimately has nothing to do with the mystery.
• Rubber-Forehead Aliens : Aquiel is a literal example, as the only thing different about her is a minimal rubber prosthetic on her forehead that leaves her attractive enough that Geordi is instantly interested in her on first sight.
• Picard secures the cooperation of the Klingon governor by name-dropping Chancellor Gowron. The audience will know that Gowron feels no loyalty whatsoever to Picard, but the threat is itself enough to get Picard what he wants.
• Geordi offers to "put in a good word" and get Aquiel a posting on the Enterprise . She turns him down, noting that there are officers with better records dying to secure such a berth.
• Token Minority Couple : Although this was usually averted by Geordi having white love interests (Christy Henshaw, Leah Brahms), this time he's paired with a black woman, despite her being from an alien species.
• Whole-Plot Reference : Two: To Laura , and to The Thing (1982) , complete with a shape shifting creature masquerading as a dog.
• Star Trek: The Next Generation S6E11 "Ship in a Bottle"
• Recap/Star Trek: The Next Generation
• Star Trek: The Next Generation S6E13 "Face of the Enemy"

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A Starfleet Lieutenant and a Klingon officer is implicated in the murder of the missing starfleet officer on a remote relay station. One of the shuttlecraft's is missing as well. Aquiel Uhnari is befriended by Geordi after he reads her personal logs during the investigation.

Majel Barrett Roddenberry

Reg E. Cathey

Renée Jones

Wayne Grace

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Patrick Stewart

Jonathan Frakes

Michael Dorn

Gates McFadden

Marina Sirtis

Brent Spiner

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Star Trek: The Next Generation

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Renee Jones

Lt. Aquiel Uhnari

Wayne Grace

Governor Torak

Reg E. Cathey

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Star Trek: The Next Generation – Season 6, Episode 13

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Patrick Stewart

Capt. Jean-Luc Picard

Jonathan Frakes

Cmdr. William Riker

LeVar Burton

Lt. Cmdr. Geordi La Forge

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Gates McFadden

Dr. Beverly Crusher

Marina Sirtis

Counselor Deanna Troi

Episode Info

Star Trek The Next Generation: Aquiel

Yeah. "Meh" is correct. I honestly didn't remember this one except it was so obvious that it was all about the dog.

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STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION: AQUIEL (TV)

One in this series of science fiction programs about the voyages of the U.S.S. Enterprise in the 24th century. This sequel to the original "Star Trek" series is set approximately 85 years after the journeys of the first Enterprise crew. In this episode, Lt. Cmdr. La Forge is dangerously attracted to a Starfleet lieutenant named Aquiel (Renee Jones), who could be responsible for the murder of her commanding officer. Arriving at a communications relay station near the Klingon border, the Enterprise crew is dismayed to discover that the station is empty, except for a dog and some bizarre cellular residue that appear to be human remains. While the doctor examines the residue, La Forge studies the personal computer records of Aquiel, whom he believes is dead; in his attempts to determine what happened on the station, he finds himself strangely attracted to her image. When Capt. Picard accuses the Klingons of attacking the station, the Klingons bring forward two suspects: Aquiel, who is alive and unsure of what actually happened on the station, and Commander Morag. As La Forge grows increasingly attracted to Aquiel, the evidence against her mounts, and La Forge becomes determined to help her. Meanwhile, Dr. Crusher begins to suspect that another being could be responsible for the murder of Aquiel's commanding officer -- a being that may have taken control of either Aquiel or Morag. No commercials.

• NETWORK: Syndicated
• DATE: February 1, 1993 Monday
• RUNNING TIME: 0:45:43
• COLOR/B&W: Color
• CATALOG ID: T:29472
• GENRE: Drama, fantasy/science fiction
• SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, fantasy/science fiction
• SERIES RUN: Syndicated - TV series, 1987-1994
• COMMERCIALS: N/A

Star Trek: The Next Generation : "Aquiel"/"Face Of The Enemy"

"Aquiel" (season 6, episode 13, originally aired: 1/30/1993)

or  The One Where Geordi Meets The Thing

Sometimes you make an emotional connection to a person, or a piece of art (or entertainment, if we want to avoid getting all snobby about it) that far outweighs that art's objective value. Admittedly, "objective value" is hard to pin down when it comes to stories, because there really are no hard and fast rules for setting standards. But if I were to tell you that I have a certain affection for  Tango & Cash , a terribly silly Slyvester Stallone/Kurt Russell action movie in which Russell dresses in drag at one point and Stallone is supposed to be "the smart one," I certainly wouldn't expect you to rush out and buy a copy. Nor would I put much effort into defending the merits of the film, even if I've seen it half a dozen times at least. People always get awkward and over-contemplative whenever the subject of conversation turns to guilty pleasures, but I think the phrase really just means "this is something I like a lot, and I have no idea why."

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I don't think I'd go so far as to say I like "Aquiel." It's a weird episode, one that establishes a mystery and that resolves it via a solution that comes perilously close to cheating. It's also another awkward electronic meet-cute for Geordi, and once again, the writers of  TNG  show themselves largely incapable of creating a romantic relationship that doesn't come off as really, really creepy. This is is probably the weakest I've seen of season 6, a bunch of awkward story ideas mashed together with some weird character behavior and an unintentionally funny ending. But I have to confess something; while I don't really like this episode, I also have a certain affection for it, for reasons that don't have a lot to do with the ep itself. I don't think that affection affected my critical judgment (if anything, I was harder on this  because  I remembered parts of it so well), but, hey I thought I'd mention it. "Aquiel" is the first show I ever remember stealing from.

Right, so I've mentioned I decided I was going to be a writer when I was eleven, right? Stephen King novel, wandering tortured genius, not much of a juggler—I'm sure you've heard a thousand times before. The first thing I ever wrote (okay, not the  first  thing, not even the first  fictional  thing, because I also did this great story when I was really young about a magic bat, only the magic was in the kid who had the bat  the entire time , so I guess this whole digression is based on a lie, since I'd already stolen from  Dumbo  when I was, like, eight, but we'll just push forward anyway) was a short story called "Poe," about Edgar Allan Poe's typewriter, and his ghost who wanted to murder the descendant of the guy who beat him to death. It wasn't very good, but it had a beginning, a middle, and an end. But I didn't know what to do next. Until I watched "Aquiel."

The  Enterprise  is on a mission to deliver supplies to Relay Station 47, but when the arrive at the station, they find it empty of personnel. The station  should  have two Starfleet officers, Lt. Aquiel Unhari (Renee Jones) and Keith Rocha, but instead, there's a dog, and a strange blob of genetic material that may be someone's remains. There's also a suspicious absence of shuttlecraft. Beverly finds some dried blood, and determines that it's Aquiel's, but she doesn't know who the blob used to be. So Geordi, after poking around, gets access to Aquiel's personal logs, and he starts watching the logs to try and put together what happened to her and Rocha. And, because he's Geordi (and because this part of the episode is doing a little stealing of its own), he starts falling in love with what he sees.

That's the part that struck me, when I was twelve or so. Not the romance part, but the idea of someone trying to piece together a story through the subjective accounts of the people who were no longer around to answer questions. The idea isn't original to  TNG , but I didn't know that. And for whatever reason, I decided that I was going to write my own story, stealing the set-up (guy comes to a seemingly empty space station, starts watching video logs), and then making up my own ending. There was a robot, and it was terrible. Just godawful, but I was 12, so that was my excuse, and at least ending made some sense within the context of the world I'd clumsily created. Sure, there were crazy plotholes, and nearly every idea was ripped off of  Trek  or Isaac Asimov, but at least you knew there was a robot on the station at the start of the story. I didn't pull that whole robot thing out of thin air, is what I'm saying.

"Aquiel" goes a different route, and that route makes an already uneven and forced episode appear even shoddier. The locked-room-ish mystery isn't a bad hook for a genre show, and while the possibilities of space travel make the intended claustrophobia of the premise less restrictive, I was curious throughout the episode as to how they would explain the absence of crew-members on the station, and the presence of that organic goo. And to its credit, "Aquiel" does do a decent job of keeping you guessing right up till the end. There are Klingons hanging around, which always complicates matters, and the information Geordi finds in Aquiel's logs doesn't clear things up one way or the other. He develops an almost instant attraction to the presumed dead crew-member, because, well, of course he does. This is Geordi, after all, and the show refuses to allow him even the slightest sliver of dignity when it comes to romance. But there are aspects of Aquiel's personal journal that are troubling. She had significant problems working with Rocha, and while she seems harmless enough, who knows where those problems might have led?

I think we're supposed to find the character charming, but I didn't. She has all the earmarks of someone who's supposed to be quirky and offbeat and passionate, which in real life would mostly just translate to insufferable and unstable. But hey, maybe  that's  the intention. We're definitely supposed to suspect she's capable of murder, or at least some kind of violence, and it is, admittedly, hard to create a character out of thin air who has chemistry with one of the ensemble and also appeals to the audience. I guess my problem here is that I found Aquiel off-putting throughout the episode, and not in an entertaining way. I wanted her to be the killer at the end, even though I was pretty sure she wouldn't be; not because that would necessarily make for a better story (although it certainly would've made for a better story than what we ended up with), but because I wanted some sort of justification for her creepiness. Instead, she gets a friendly send-off from Geordi, after the two of them have  Demoliton Man- style sex.

Oh, right, I forget to mention: Aquiel isn't dead after all! She just passed out, and was rescued by the Klingons, who return her to the  Enterprise  as proof that they didn't murder her. Only, she doesn't remember what happened in her final moments on the relay station, which doesn't exactly clear her name, and when Riker goes digging into personnel records, he finds she has a history of causing problems and rejecting authority. Rocha's record, on the other hand, is spotless. So here we do get some justification for all the bad vibes Aquiel was sending out earlier. Her personality type is clear enough, and it's one I'm sure we've all had to deal with at some point or another: the "free-spirit" who's basically just irresponsible and flighty and prone to blaming other people whenever her work isn't done on time.

Okay, that may be the stodgiest sentence I've ever written. We don't ever see Aquiel working with anyone, so it's possible that she's been misunderstood or ill-represented. At the very least, though, the records Riker finds suggest Aquiel isn't particularly stable, and her behavior around Geordi doesn't contradict this. After being initially bothered that Geordi went through her private recordings, Aquiel quickly (and accurately) realizes that Geordi is the only person on the  Enterprise  willing to defend her from accusations of murder. Either that, or she's charmed by his directness and honesty—either way, she starts getting closer to him, which in turn makes Geordi even firmly on her side, reservations or no. And that, of course, means that at some point, someone has to pull Geordi aside and tell him that his emotions are clouding his judgment; in this case, it's Riker, but it really could've been anyone.

This whole plotline is an odd fit for the show—it's basically  Basic Instinct  or any of a dozen other movies where a lawyer or a cop got too close to his or her potentially guilty client. (The writers themselves realized this, as they changed the ending of the episode to avoid direct comparisons.) Only, Geordi isn't a prosecutor, and he certainly doesn't have any legal obligation in this case. Really, who does at this point? How does Starfleet handle murder investigations, and is it Picard's responsibility to make some kind of final call regarding her guilt or innocence? I'm sure there's some procedure built in, and I suppose the  Enterprise  is obligated to investigate once they realize potential Klingon involvement. But that still can't really support the sort of sexy, tense shenanigans this scenario is designed to create. Much as I dislike Aquiel, it seems out of character for everyone on the ship but Geordi to side against her. Our heroes always err on the side of trust, so their eagerness to jump to conclusions comes off more as an attempt to generate false tension between Geordi's obligations and his desires. Which isn't to say that his relationship with Aquiel is healthy or reasonable. Almost as soon as she's on board the ship, she's sneaking back to the station to delete some of her more incendiary logs. Geordi finds out, and lectures her how bad this looks, and her protestations sound hollow—the entire conversation could've come from something like  Double Indemnity  or  Body Heat.  And then the two of them hook up using this magical stone which is supposed to increase the mental and emotional connection of a couple, because that's normal, right?

All of this would make a decent amount of sense if it turned out that Aquiel really was the killer. It still wouldn't  work , mind you, but at least we'd have some justification for the off-putting nature of these scenes if we knew Aquiel was hiding a guilty conscience. Instead, in the last ten minutes of the episode, Beverly discovers that the puddle of goo on the station floor didn't actually come from a human, or from any other traditional sentient life form. It's actually cast off from a kind of body-snatcher organism—presumably, it had taken Rocha's shape before Rocha arrived at the station, and then decided it wanted to jump to another host. There's some hemming and hawing as to what form the coalescent (as Beverly describes it) eventually took, but it's the dog. Not Aquiel, not one of the Klingons, but the dog Geordi found on the station at the start of the episode. So, yeah, the weakest choice there, on a plot twist which comes to late to be anything but tacked on. Geordi and Aquiel have one last conversation, in which she turns down his offer to join up with the  Enterprise  crew. It's all supposedly to be very pleasant, but the subtext screams, "You did what I needed you to do, but I'm moving on now."

Just a weird, weird episode all around, and normally one I wouldn't give a second thought to. It sticks in my mind now because I associate it with an important time in my life, but even viewed through the lens of nostalgia, this is weak, with all the hallmarks of bad writing: characters behaving against type (why the hell is Geordi so drawn to Aquiel, anyway?), and a story in which the most interesting concepts are ill-defined.

Stray Observations:

• It seems like whenever someone on TV says, "She has a quirky sense of humor," it translates to, "I would like to have sex with that, please."
• We do get a nice scene in which Worf stares a Klingon Governor down.
• Aquiel is Haliian, an alien race so different from humans that they have slight bumps on their foreheads.

"Face of the Enemy" (season 6, episode 14, originally aired: 2/6/1993)

Or  The One Where Troi Meets The Enemy And She Is It

This is another frustrating episode—more so, even, than "Aquiel," because where "Aquile" seemed misguided from the start, "Face of the Enemy" had a fair bit of potential. And it manages to achieve quite a bit of that potential, really. Troi gets to take a much more active role in the proceedings than she usually does; we get to hear more about Spock's efforts to bring peace to Romulus, albeit without any commentary from the Vulcan himself; and the episode resolution is clever and unexpected. Really, that Troi is the main character here is the big deal, especially considering that at no point in this episode does she fall in love with or become seduced by an ambassador. Hell, she doesn't establish a romantic interest in anyone, and she's even called on to be forceful, quick-thinking, and driven.

So why don't I love this episode? Looking back at it now, a little less than two days after watching it, I feel like I  should  have loved it, or at least liked it more than I do. The episode tries to make Troi credible, and Sirtis certainly isn't terrible at doing what she's called on to do here. But "Face" just wasn't plausible enough for me to buy into the story, and I spent most of the ep expecting a final twist that never came. Arguably, that's more my fault than the episode's; it's not responsible for my expectations, after all. But I'm the reviewer you're stuck with, so all I can do is try and explain my reaction as best I can. If "Aquiel" benefited (marginally) from nostalgia, "Face" suffers for not being as complicated as I hoped it would be—although the fact that I was hoping for those complications may tell you something.

Troi wakes up in a dark room, and when she finally gets the lights on, she sees from her reflection in the mirror that she's been surgically altered to look like a Romulan officer. (And a terribly cute one at that.) Before she can get her bearings, another Romulan, a  real  Romulan, bursts into her room, telling her she's part of a vital mission, that he works with Spock and that they kidnapped Troi from a conference and altered her so she could help them get some precious cargo off a Romulan warbird into Federation space. All Troi has to do, this N'Vek (Scott MacDonald) tells her, is pretend to be one of the elite Romulan officers known as the Tal Shiar, and order Commander Toreth (Carolyn Seymour, whose played a Romulan before, as well as the head scientist back in "First Contact") the warbird's captain, to take them to the Kaleb sector, and everything else will fall into place.

Understandably, Troi doesn't quite know how to handle this situation, especially given that she knows little about the Tal Shiar, or about Romulan culture in general (at least I think she doesn't; if I remember right, Romulans are still fairly unknown quantities to the Federation?). As well, Toreth is a stern, unforgiving leader, and one not accustomed to being ordered around on her own ship. But Troi catches on quickly, and, in a nice change of pace from the character's usual behavior, takes control of the ship as best she can, barking orders and using intimidation tactics when the rest of the crew shows reluctance to follow her. And it's a good thing she works fast, too, because the cargo N'Vek is using her to transport is especially critical: a high-level member of the Romulan government who has chosen to defect to the Federation.

So far, so good, and like I said, I really feel like I should appreciate this more than I do, after all this time complaining that Troi is by far  TNG 's most useless character. Only—I don't buy her involvement here. It just seems like such a random, poorly thought out plan, to the point that I spent most of the ep expecting to learn near the end that N'Vek was actually playing Troi for a fool. I suppose the justification that it was easier to grab her than anybody else on the  Enterprise , given that she was attending a conference, should be enough. And it makes sense that Spock would want them to find someone from Picard's ship, given that he already has a relationship there. But… Troi? And to not give her any sense of what she was doing until maybe five minutes before she actually had to pull it off is bizarre. I suppose it's to create more suspense, that Spock and the others' efforts are so tenuous that they need to resort to this kind of desperate play to have a chance of working out. But it's all very artificial, like one of those dreams when you wander into a class final without being able to remember ever having been in class before.

Still, if you can buy into that (and this could very well be something that irks me in particular, and not a more general flaw of the episode), it is exciting to see Troi bashing in heads. The episode milks a lot of tension out of her butting up against a suspicious-but-can't-prove-anything Toreth, and there's something to be said for having two women vying for power without their gender being relevant in the slightest. (Troi doesn't mention chocolate. Not once.) And as improbably as the set-up is, the seat of the pants feeling works well for "Face" as a whole, because there's a definite sense of risk here. We know intellectually the show isn't going to kill Troi off, but her mission could easily fail, and the fact that she's working without a safety net, on a mission that no one back on the  Enterprise  even knows about, raises the stakes considerably.

There's also the fact that Troi never really knows how far she can trust anyone, not even the ever-demanding N'Vek. Halfway through the ep, the Romulans encounter the Corvallen ship that's supposed to take N'Vek's cargo and deliver it to the  Enterprise . Within a few moments of conversation, Troi realizes the Corvallens are lying, and when she whispers this to N'Vek, his response is to  fire on and destroy the ship . This upsets Toreth, because no commander likes having someone else fire her ship's weapons without her authorization, but if anything, it's even more upsetting to Troi, who had no idea N'Vek would react with such immediate violence. At first, I thought this meant we were going to find out later on that N'Vek was working some other angle, but he stays true to Troi right up until the moment he gets phasered out of existence.

Which, the more I think about it, is actually cool. I mean, how often do shows acknowledge that just because everybody is working for the good guys, that doesn't mean they all have the same idea of how to get the job done? N'Vek reacts like he does because he's a Romulan, and that's what Romulans do—they don't have maybes, just "save" or "destroy." We get this helpfully explained to us in "Face"'s other plotline back on the  Enterprise . The ship picks up a Federation member who had defected to the Romulans twenty years ago, before realizing he'd made some bad choices and defecting back. (Re-defecting? De-defecting?) Ensign Deseve is a stiff looking dude, with larger breasts then you usually get on a man, but he's able to articulate the appeal of Romulan culture, as well as his disenchantment with that culture, very clearly: the Romulans answer every question "yes" or "no," and that's appealing when you're a young man, stuck in a Starfleet full of people constantly trying not to step on each other's toes. But when he got older, Deseve realized that "maybe" has its place as well. It's a pleasantly complex idea—while Deseve is carrying his own message from Ambassador Spock, there's never any suggestion that he's going to go unpunished for his defection. But he came back anyway, knowing the cost.

If it sounds like I'm talking myself into liking this episode more than I thought I did, well, I'm pretty sure that's what's happening. Which must be terribly exciting, I know. But the more I think about it, the more it seems to me that my false apprehension of where the story was headed did "Face" a disservice. I haven't even gotten to the cool ending. Toreth's ship finally runs into the  Enterprise  (after Troi cleverly works out a way to let the  Enterprise  track the ship even while it's cloaked), and Troi takes the bridge to communicate to Captain Picard directly. She says some things that sound like they may be code words, but don't have to be, and convinces Picard to lower his ship's shields. Then Troi orders N'Vek to fire on the  Enterprise— only the weapon he fires is at the lowest setting, and really serves as a smoke screen so N'Vek can transport the Romulan cargo directly to the  Enterprise 's bridge. It works beautifully, only Toreth immediately recognizes the ruse, and N'Vek is killed. Troi survives only because the Romulan ship has to drop its shields when it cloaks, allowing Worf to beam the counselor back to the  Enterprise  at the last second.

I'm sure there are problems I'm overlooking, just as I was almost certainly overly hard on the episode the first time I watched it. That happens from time to time. But really, I think we can all agree that it's a relief to see Troi getting to be more than a victim. While the episode never explicitly stats it (that I can remember), her empathic abilities would be helpful for this kind of espionage work, as it would allow her to fine-tune her performance based off the emotions of the people she was trying to fool, so for once, that power seems useful rather than an after-thought. I'm going to grade this conservatively, as I can't shake the feeling that it didn't entirely work, but I would like to watch this one again sometime. At the very least, it shows that Troi really isn't useless, even if the way the show uses her so often is.

• According to Memory Alpha, this is the last time Spock's efforts on Romulus were mentioned in the franchise until the 2009  Star Trek  movie. This seems like a waste.
• I'm going to go out on a limb and assume we never hear about the defecting Romulans again, either.

Next week:  We trip the light fantastic with "Tapestry," and Worf investigates his "Birthright, Part 1." (There are a lot of two-parters this season!)

Star Trek: The Next Generation/Aquiel

Aquiel is the thirteenth episode of the sixth season of Star Trek: The Next Generation , and the one hundred thirty-ninth episode overall.

Starring : Patrick Stewart ( Capt. Jean-Luc Picard ), Jonathan Frakes ( Cmdr. William Riker )

Also Starring : LeVar Burton ( Lt. Cmdr. Geordi La Forge ), Michael Dorn ( Lieutenant Worf ), Gates McFadden ( Dr. Beverly Crusher ), Marina Sirtis ( Counselor Deanna Troi ), Brent Spiner ( Lt. Commander Data )

Guest Stars : Renée Jones (Lt. Aquiel), Wayne Grace (Torak)

Co-Stars : Reg E. Cathey (Morag), Majel Barrett (Computer Voice)

Plot Overview

Geordi must search for clues in a murder suspect's personal logs. When the suspect, Aquiel Unari, is unexpectedly found alive, he becomes romantically involved with her. The Klingons are suspected too.

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STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION Season 6, Episode 13

The U.S.S. Enterprise arrives at a remote subspace relay station near the Klingon border, and Riker, Geordi, and Beverly encounter a stray dog and evidence of what appears to be the remains of Aquiel Uhnari, a Starfleet lieutenant. The staff attempts to discover precisely what happened by surveying the deserted shuttlecraft docked into the station. While surveying the shuttlecraft's destroyed deckplate, Beverly and Riker suspect that Aquiel and the missing Lieutenant Rocha may have been the victims of a Klingon attack. Then, Geordi comes across a moving, speaking screen image of Aquiel in her quarters, relaying a message to her sister Shianna about her fear of a Klingon named Morag. Geordi continues to watch these personal logs, and learns that Aquiel had a tenuous relationship with Lieutenant Rocha. Riker then joins him in her quarters and is informed by Picard that the Klingon Governor Torak has arrived at the Enterprise. The senior staff meets with Torak, and much to their surprise, he produces Aquiel - alive! She explains that Rocha attacked her and she escaped into Klingon space via shuttlecraft. Thus, the remains found near the bulkhead were probably Rocha's, but she doesn't remember precisely what happened. To help clarify what really occurred, Picard requests to speak with Commander Morag, a Klingon who supposedly harassed Aquiel. Attracted to this familiar stranger, Geordi befriends Aquiel, and takes her to Ten-Forward. He reveals to her that he surveyed her logs and personal correspondence in an investigation of her quarters. He then asks her about Rocha, and she tells him that she didn't like Rocha but she didn't wish him dead. She realizes, however, that the senior staff of the Enterprise suspects her of murder. jssor_1_slider_init(); [ Screencap Index ] Meanwhile, Beverly continues to examine the cellular residue found on the deckplate, while Riker and Worf come across a phaser in the shuttlecraft set to kill. Given this new development, Riker and Worf question Aquiel, however she still insists that she would not kill him. Geordi sits in on this interrogation, and it is obvious he is sympathetic towards his new friend. Commander Morag then arrives aboard the Enterprise and meets with the senior staff. He admits that he was present when Rocha was killed, and that he took priority Starfleet messages. Geordi then confronts Aquiel about taking messages from Rocha's log, and she explains that she did so because Rocha was declaring her insubordinate and belligerent to Starfleet. Scared that this new evidence will condemn her as Rocha's killer, she only agrees to stay aboard the Enterprise because Geordi has faith in her. He and Aquiel use an ancient method of her people to bond and share their thoughts. While Beverly examines the DNA found on the deckplate yet again, the material jumps up and forms a perfect replica of her hand. Due to this, she suspects that the real Rocha may have been killed by this strange coalescent organism, and a replica of him may have attacked Aquiel in search of a new body. Suddenly, Aquiel's dog transforms into a creature right in front of Geordi - the dog is really a coalescent creature. Fortunately, Geordi manages to defend himself against the bizarre being, which apparently coalesced from Rocha to Aquiel to her dog. She and Geordi then bid each other a fond farewell, both of them hoping they'll see each other again in the future.

Star Trek: The Next Generation (TV Series)

Aquiel (1993).

• User Reviews
• Aquiel deleting logs after she gets to the Enterprise. Few Star Fleet officers would be that stupid and it is completely unnecessary to advance the plot. Finding the bad report would be enough for motive.
• "Aquiel is not on the Enterprise." But she was on the Enterprise, even though I don't know why both the dog and Aquiel couldn't be alien creatures. Maybe it divides. Would be cool if, after she meets Geordie that last time, we see her temporarily morph in some way. If she was white, while she shakes his hand goodbye, we could see it turn brown to match Geordie and then revert when she lets go. (Also, why doesn't the computer notify security when a member of the crew disappears?! Always annoys me.)
• Why have the Klingon delete records, which makes no sense except for ones that would document his arrival. Since he copied data, he could have dropped one data disk or forgot one in the computer (whatever he copies it to). Or, the last computer log would be connection to an unknown device, or a device known to be Klingon. When interrogating the Klingon, they could examine his device and it's identification number would match the last log entry.
• Or, better, the Klingon is having an affair with Aquiel. The other officer is mad that the Klingon visits the station. When he discovers them gone, he then deletes every record that mentions his arrival, even the logs where Aquiel talks about him, but he misses one where he was not mentioned explicitly, where Aquiel only hints to her sister that she's seeing a new man, a very strong man, whom she only sees every 7 days (whatever the Klingon's period was) but doesn't fully explain. Then more of the elements of the story could be weaved together.

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Aquiel Stardate: 46461.3 Original Airdate: 1 Feb, 1993

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Star Trek - The Next Generation, Episode 139: Aquiel VHS

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Editorial Reviews

A subspace relay system located near the Klingon border is found to be deserted save for a friendly, tail-thumping dog. The two crew members are gone, the shuttlecraft is absent, and signs that a murder occurred stand in their place. Searching for clues, Geordi reviews the taped personal logs of Lieutenant Aquiel Uhnari, the junior officer at the relay, which have much to say about the high-handed arrogance of her supervisor, Lieutenant Rocha, and the continual provocations of Morag, a Klingon starship commander who patrols the sector. The lead looks promising, and while Picard engages in the delicate negotiations necessary to allow a Starfleet investigation to question a Klingon officer, Geordi continues viewing Uhnari's reports and letters home, eventually (wait for it!) becoming enamored of a woman who exists only on a prerecorded video. Until, that is, an indignant Klingon governor hands over Lieutenant Uhnari to the Enterprise . Now she's the prime suspect. Riker in particular is gunning for her, apparently because Rocha's records reveal him to be or, increasingly likely, to have been a fine young hotshot officer. Geordi, however, is not convinced; when he voices his doubts, Riker accuses him of perhaps lacking a certain objectivity regarding the situation. An episode that starts off swimmingly--the mystery is initially fairly intriguing, and Uhnari's communiqués offer a window into a boring, lonely Federation job almost unique in the series--rather quickly flounders on the shoals of bad acting, ludicrous character motivation (did Geordi learn nothing from his virtual and real encounters with Leah Brahms?), and a rather underwhelming climax that is possible only because each and every person on the ship overlooks something that's glaringly obvious to anyone watching at home. --Bruce Reid

From the Back Cover

Meanwhile, the crew surmises that her death may have been the result of a Klingon attack. When Governor Torak (Wayne Grace) arrives at the Enterprise with Aquiel in tow, she explains that her commanding officer attacked her and then abandoned the station. But when a phaser set to kill is found in the station's shuttlecraft, the crew suspects her of murder, and Riker (Jonathan Frakes) fears that Geordi's feelings may interfere with the investigation.

Product details

• Language ‏ : ‎ English, French
• Package Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.32 x 4.19 x 1.12 inches; 6.13 ounces
• Director ‏ : ‎ Beaumont, Gabrielle, Becker, Robert, Bole, Cliff, Bond, Timothy, Burton, LeVar
• Run time ‏ : ‎ 44 minutes
• Release date ‏ : ‎ June 2, 1998
• Date First Available ‏ : ‎ February 9, 2007
• Actors ‏ : ‎ Burton, LeVar, McFadden, Gates
• Studio ‏ : ‎ Paramount
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ 6304925115

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