Plot

The Enterprise

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...

crew receives an automated message from the enigmatic Sheliak: Remove the humans on Tau Cygni

Tau Cygni

Tau Cygni is a binary star system in the constellation Cygnus, approximately 69 light years away from Earth. The main star, 4th magnitude GJ 822.1 A, is a yellowish white subgiant star of the spectral type F2IV. It therefore has a surface temperature of 6,000 to 7,500 kelvins and is larger,...

 V in four days. However, this is not a simple warning or directive. The Sheliak are a non-humanoid species with little regard for human life and would exterminate any humans found in their path. In fact, only due to a treaty with the 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...

 did they feel compelled to notify their intention to colonize before taking further action.

There is no record of a Federation colony ship being sent there as it contains levels of hyperon

Hyperon

In particle physics, a hyperon is any baryon containing one or more strange quarks, but no charm quarks or bottom quarks.-Properties and behavior of hyperons:...

ic radiation lethal to humans, which doesn't explain why the Sheliak indicate otherwise. The Enterprise arrives in the system to find what looks to be a small colony on the surface. Lt. Cmdr. Data

Data (Star Trek)

Lieutenant Commander Data is a character in the fictional Star Trek universe portrayed by actor Brent Spiner. 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...

, the only crewmember unaffected, takes a 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...

 down to the planet to coordinate the evacuation. Once he arrives, he finds that the sensors were incorrect. It is a colony of 15,253 people, the descendants of the wayward colony ship Artemis launched 92 years prior. The colonists' ancestors found a means to survive within the radiation but initially suffered heavy loss of life before an effective defense was found. Although it would normally be a simple matter of beaming

Transporter (Star Trek)

A transporter is a fictional teleportation machine used in the Star Trek universe. Transporters convert a person or object into an energy pattern , then "beam" it to a target, where it is reconverted into matter...

 the colonists off the planet, hyperonic radiation renders the transporters useless.

With time running out, Capt. 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...

 takes the Enterprise on a course to intercept the Sheliak colony ship en route. The Sheliak have no interest in compromising because they feel that the treaty clearly states it is within their rights to colonize Tau Cygni V. Picard is forced to determine a legal basis within the 500,000 word treaty that might stall the Sheliaks' plans. Meanwhile, on the planet, Data cannot convince the colony leader, Gosheven, that their presence is in violation of a treaty only temporarily protecting them from destruction and that evacuation is the only option. The colony leader holds that the sacrifices made by the original colonists allow them the right to live on the planet.

Ultimately, Data reasons that if persuasion cannot work, then intimidation and a show of force should be his next option. Modifying his phaser to work in the hyperonic atmosphere, he then conducts a raid on their aqueduct to prove they are helpless to defend their livelihood. One android and a phaser is nothing compared to the Sheliak. This convinces the colonists that the colony is not worth dying for and that other challenges await them on a new world. Meanwhile, Picard finds a solution to his problem within the treaty. The Sheliak can either choose to wait three weeks for the transport ships to evacuate the colony or take the matter to arbitration by the Grisellas, a species currently hibernating for the next six months. The Sheliak leader relents and the ship turns back.

External links