Overview

The Enterprise must transport delegates to a conference, one of whom is an extremely mate-hungry Lwaxana Troi with eyes for Picard.

Plot

An important conference is to take place on the planet Pacifica and the USS Enterprise-D

USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D)

The USS Enterprise is a 24th century starship in the Star Trek fictional universe and the principal setting of the Star Trek: The Next Generation television series...

is ordered to escort two Antedean ambassadors to the conference. The Antedeans (one of whom was played by Fleetwood Mac

Fleetwood Mac

Fleetwood Mac are a British–American rock band formed in 1967 in London.The only original member present in the band is its eponymous drummer, Mick Fleetwood...

 member Mick Fleetwood

Mick Fleetwood

Michael John Kells "Mick" Fleetwood is a British musician and actor best known for his role as the drummer and namesake of the blues/rock and roll band Fleetwood Mac. His surname, combined with that of John McVie, was the inspiration for the name of the originally Peter Green-led Fleetwood Mac...

, a long-time Trekker who proclaimed he would shave his well-known beard for an opportunity to play an alien on the program and to be transported), who look like fish

Fish

Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...

 walking on two legs, arrive in a self-induced catatonic state in order to avoid the stress from the journey. When they awake, they will be extremely hungry, which is why they brought a large can of their favourite food, vermicula, with them.

En route to the conference, the Enterprise-D encounters a Federation

United Federation of Planets

The United Federation of Planets, also known as "The Federation" is a fictional interplanetary federal republic depicted in the Star Trek television series and motion pictures...

 shuttlecraft

Shuttlecraft (Star Trek)

In the Star Trek fictional universe, a shuttlecraft is a small auxiliary spaceship carried by the larger craft such as the Enterprise. Shuttlecraft were documented in the writer's guide for the series in 1966 and first appeared in the episode The Galileo Seven. Galileo was the name of the...

 carrying the Betazoid

Betazoid

In the fictional Star Trek universe, Betazoids are a sentient humanoid species from the planet Betazed, a member of the United Federation of Planets.-Overview:...

 ambassador Lwaxana Troi, mother of Counselor Deanna Troi

Deanna Troi

Commander Deanna Troi is a main character in the science-fiction television series Star Trek: The Next Generation and related TV series and films, portrayed by actress Marina Sirtis. Troi is half-human, half-Betazoid and has the psionic ability to sense emotions. She serves as the ship's counselor...

. Lwaxana Troi insists on coming aboard the Enterprise-D for the rest of the journey, so she and her mute manservant Mr. Homn are taken aboard.

What the crew of the Enterprise-D doesn't know is that Lwaxana Troi is in "The Phase": a stage in the life of a middle-aged Betazoid woman when her sex drive quadruples - or more. Long-since widowed, Lwaxana is eager for a new husband. She starts her search with Captain Jean-Luc Picard

Jean-Luc Picard

Captain Jean-Luc Picard is a Star Trek character portrayed by Patrick Stewart. He appears in the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation and the feature films Star Trek Generations, Star Trek: First Contact, Star Trek: Insurrection, and Star Trek Nemesis...

, but when he invites Data to their private dinner in order to trip up Troi's game, she goes on to other candidates. She strongly considers Commander William Riker

William Riker

William Thomas Riker, played by Jonathan Frakes, is a fictional character in the Star Trek universe primarily appearing as a main character in Star Trek: The Next Generation...

, but her daughter dissuades him. She also considers Rex, the bartender from Picard's Dixon Hill holodeck program, but Picard later informs her that he is not real.

Right before the conference, the Antedean ambassadors awake and gobble up their entire supply of vermicula. However, when Lwaxana Troi meets them, she immediately reveals them to be assassins, intent on blowing up the entire conference with a lethal supply of ultritium. The assassins are arrested, and Troi departs to the conference, saying that if she did not manage to find a new husband, at least she saved the conference.

External links

• Manhunt rewatch by Keith R.A. DeCandido