Legacy (Star Trek: The Next Generation)

"Legacy"
Star Trek: The Next Generation episode
Episode no. Season 4
Episode 6
Directed by Robert Scheerer
Written by Joe Menosky
Featured music Dennis McCarthy
Cinematography by Marvin Rush
Production code 180
Original air date October 29, 1990 (1990-10-29)
Guest appearance(s)
Episode chronology

"Legacy" is the 80th episode of the syndicated American science fiction television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, the sixth episode of the fourth season. It marked the point at which the series surpassed the number of episodes in the original series.

The Enterprise crew is caught in the midst of a civil war on Turkana IV, former crew member Tasha Yar's homeworld. While negotiating with one of the factions, they discover that the faction's representative is Tasha's younger sister, Ishara.

Plot

The Enterprise, under the command of Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart), responds to a distress call from the Federation freighter Arcos which has suffered from engine failure and taken emergency orbit around the colonized planet Turkana IV, the birthplace of the Enterprise's former chief of security, Tasha Yar. The Enterprise arrives just as the Arcos explodes, but find a trail left behind by the freighter's escape pod leading to the colony. Turkana IV's government collapsed 15 years before, and the last Federation ship to visit six years earlier was warned by the colony's warring factions that any trespassers transporting down to the planet would be executed. As the freighter crew's lives are in danger, Picard decides a rescue must be attempted.

Commander Riker (Jonathan Frakes) leads an away team to the surface, where they find the colonists initially unperturbed by their presence, but soon end up in a standoff with one of the colony's two remaining warring factions, the Coalition. Their leader Hayne (Don Mirault) reveals that the other faction, the Alliance, holds the Arcos survivors hostage, and offers the Enterprise their support in exchange for Federation weapons, which Riker rejects. However, Hayne, after learning of Tasha Yar's service aboard the Enterprise, instead offers Ishara Yar (Beth Toussaint), claiming she is Tasha's sister, as a liaison. Picard accepts Ishara aboard, and while the crew is initially skeptical, DNA tests support her claims, and she gradually gains the crew's trust. Commander Data (Brent Spiner), who was especially close to Tasha, develops a friendship with Ishara, while Ishara seems prepared to leave her life on the colony behind.

In order to locate the hostages, Chief Engineer Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) suggests they use the crashed escape pod's instruments; Ishara recommends that she beam separately to a nearby location as a distraction, as her implanted proximity device will set off the Alliance's alarms. The crew executes the plan, but Ishara is wounded in the attempt. Riker rescues her, and is impressed by her bravery; later, Ishara informs Hayne "It's working."

When the Enterprise receives a message from the Alliance announcing they are preparing to execute the Arcos crew, they decide to execute Ishara's proposed rescue plan: Dr. Crusher (Gates McFadden) removes her proximity device, which Ishara gives Data as a memento. Riker leads an away team to the planet where they rescue the hostages, but Ishara disappears in the confusion. Data finds her attempting to disable the Alliance security grid; Ishara reveals that a large Coalition force is just outside the Alliance perimeter waiting to attack. Data determines that her entire interaction with the crew was a ploy. Riker arrives to distract Ishara just as she fires at Data and Data dodges, and Data stuns her and reverses her attempted sabotage. Riker notes that her phaser was set to kill.

With the away team and Ishara Back aboard the Enterprise, Hayne demands Picard return Ishara and challenges his jurisdiction. While Picard argues he has cause to hold her for firing upon two Starfleet officers, he decides to allow her to leave. As Data escorts her to the transporter room, Ishara claims he was the closest thing she had to a friend. Data considers his relationships with both Ishara and Tasha as the Enterprise departs.

References

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