Captain's log, star date 41601.3.
We are crossing through the Zed Lapis sector
to rendezvous with shuttlecraft 13 carrying Deanna Troi
who is returning from a conference.
Because Engineering is working on our dilithium crystals,
we are travelling on impulse power.
Deep sensor probes show no obstacles or vessels within three light years.
Confirm.
The martial-arts competition is in three days.
Are you prepared?
I will be if you come to the holodeck later.
I need help with the Mishiama wristlock and break.
If it works on you, I can use it on anyone.
A valid assumption. Who is your first competitor?
- Science Officer Swenson. - You will defeat him easily.
I'm more concerned with Lt. Minnerly's kick boxing.
You are favoured in the ship's pool.
- You bet on me? - A sure thing.
Captain.
Rendezvous with the shuttle in one hour and ten minutes.
- Thank you, Lieutenant. - Aye, sir.
It'll be good to have Counsellor Troi back, won't it, Number One?
It certainly will.
Sir. I'm receiving an emergency transmission from the shuttle.
On main viewer.
I can't. We're receiving audio only.
Open the frequency.
What a jolt!
Position report.
Sir, on-board systems failure.
- Tell me where I am. - Coordinates at 370.236. Confirm.
I can't confirm. My instruments are haywire.
Lt. Prieto, is Counsellor Troi alright?
Yes, sir. Just a little shaken. We're being buffeted a bit.
Losing more power! My flight-control computer's fried.
Main Engineering.
Lt. Cmdr Leland T Lynch, here, sir.
How long before we return to warp power?
I'm realigning the dilithium crystals.
There is an emergency. We need warp drive. How long?
- 20 minutes or more. - We don't have it.
- I'll align it by hand. - Whatever it takes.
Shuttle, this is the Enterprise. Your coordinates now read 237.101.
Ben, you're dangerously close to a planet.
I can see it!
The planet is Vagra II. Zed Lapis sector. Uninhabited.
Lieutenant, report.
This is Counsellor Troi. I'll relay, sir.
The pilot is busy. We've lost most of our impulse power.
Engineering, status report.
Working on it. Three minutes.
But there are no guarantees.
We're out of control. We're caught in planet's gravity.
Space, the final frontier.
These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise.
Its continuing mission, to explore strange new worlds,...
..to seek out new life and new civilizations,...
..to boldly go where no one has gone before.
Captain's log, supplemental.
We've lost contact with shuttlecraft 13.
We can only assume they've crash-landed on Vagra ll.
Meanwhile, Engineering is trying to return us to warp power.
Forget the final check.
Initiate start-up sequence.
- Beginning checklist. - Override.
Go directly to start-up.
- That is not recommended. - Understood. Now!
Prime matter/antimatter injectors.
Set ratio at 25 to one.
Ratio set.
Power engine core. Inject reactants.
Leland T Lynch here. We now have minimum warp drive.
- Course set for Vagra II, sir. - Warp eight.
I said "minimum" warp drive.
- You heard the order. Make it so. - Yes, sir.
Approaching Vagra ll.
Strange, sir. There's no emergency signal from the shuttle yet.
What is this place?
There is little information on file, beyond the fact of its existence.
Our sensors show no signs of life forms. Virtually no vegetation.
- Atmosphere? - Minimum for our needs, sir.
- Standard orbit. - Aye, sir.
I've located the shuttle.
- Life signs? - Not yet, sir. Still probing.
It appears to be buried under a lot of debris.
I may have something, sir.
Faint life signs.
- Very faint. - How many?
We can't tell from here.
Can we beam up the injured?
No, sir. Our sensors cannot penetrate this debris.
- It's very unusual. - Yes, sir. I cannot explain.
- Number One, prepare an away team. - Data. Yar.
Dr. Crusher, have you been monitoring this?
Yes. I'll meet the away team in transporter room four.
Let's go. The life signs are weak.
What is this?
No idea. Go round, to be on the safe side.
Let's try the other way.
Enterprise, we've got a problem.
What kind of problem?
I'm not sure. A kind of slick is blocking our path.
Will keep you apprised.
- Maintain an open frequency. - Aye, sir.
- Analysis, Mr. Data. - Inconclusive, sir.
I cannot tell you what it is, but I can tell you what it is not.
Explain.
No evidence of neural or circulatory systems.
No internal organs.
Cellular structure unknown.
No proteins known to us.
It's narrow here. We can get over it.
- How is it moving? - I do not know, sir.
It does not have a skeletal framework or musculature.
Then what's causing it to move?
It appears to be following us, sir.
No sign of intelligence, no brain, yet evidence of thought?
Insufficient information, sir.
Is it a life form, Data?
Again, insufficient information, sir.
Theorize.
It is possible.
Very good, Tin Man!
What is it, Number One?
What are you seeing?
Trouble.
Captain's log, supplemental.
On a mission to rescue survivors from a shuttle crash,
the away team has encountered a strange creature
which is able to assume different forms,
including one which resembles humanoid.
Easy. Let's find out what we're dealing with.
Agreed, Captain.
Number One, I don't believe the location of the crash
and the proximity of the creature is a coincidence.
I am Cmdr William Riker of the USS Enterprise.
I am Armus. Why are you here?
We mean no harm. We have injured crewmen in the shuttlecraft.
We need to get to them. May we pass?
You haven't given me a good enough reason.
Preserving life. All life is very important to us.
Why?
We believe everything has a right to exist.
An interesting notion which I do not share!
You may leave now, if you wish.
We're not going without our crew.
- I warn you... - Enough!
Our people need attention.
We won't hurt you, but we must help them.
Number One!
The creature attacked us. Lt. Yar is down.
- It seems to feed on our phaser. - We had no effect on it.
What's Lt. Yar's condition?
- Dr. Crusher, report! - She's dead.
Transporter room, get them up. Now!
I need her in sickbay now.
Go to yellow alert, Lt. Worf. I'll be in sickbay.
Aye, sir.
- Status, Doctor? - Unchanged.
- Can you bring her back? - We'll see. Neural stimulator.
- Neural stimulator locked in. - Interlock current feeds.
- Set sensitivity factor to 4.4. - Affirmative.
Monitoring 2.3, 1.8.
- You did it! - No. She's on total support.
There is no independent brain function.
Current feeds operating.
No response. Her synaptic network is breaking down.
Inject norep.
Neurones are beginning to depolarize.
Direct reticular stimulation.
- Direct? - Do it!
Increase to 70 microvolts.
85 microvolts.
Again.
90!
She's gone.
Gone?
There was too much synaptic damage.
That thing sucked the life right out of her.
There's nothing I can do.
Your friends have deserted you.
They're not coming back.
You're wrong.
I killed one of them!
Yes.
I know.
How could you be in there and know that?
I felt her die.
Do you want to know why I killed her?
Your answer would be meaningless.
That act had no reason.
Exactly! It had no meaning.
I did it because I wanted to. It amused me.
No. You thought it would amuse you, but it didn't.
You felt no satisfaction.
No.
It was too easy.
You wanted her to suffer.
You have a great need.
- I need nothing. - Liar.
End this. Let us go.
Not yet.
They won't give you what you want.
And what is that?
To break their spirit.
Is that what I want?
If breaking their spirit will amuse me, then that's what I will have.
Never.
She didn't do anything. Her phaser was lowered.
She only wanted to get to Troi.
She was killed in a senseless act.
Lt. Yar's death is very painful for all of us.
We must try to deal with it for now.
Until the shuttle crew is safely back aboard,
our feelings will have to wait. Understood?
Lt. Worf, you are now Acting Chief of Security.
I will do my best, sir.
Doctor, how are the shuttle crew?
We're receiving faint life signs, but the readings fluctuate.
They may not be accurate.
Armus is capable of creating undefined force fields.
We cannot communicate or use the transporter, unless it allows it.
A creature against whom we seem to have no defence.
- Number One? - It's on that planet waiting for us.
It killed Tasha, and it could've killed us, but it didn't.
Deanna and Ben are alive for a reason.
It knows that we won't leave while they're still alive.
You're saying its attack on Yar was part of some tactic?
To find out, we have to go back down.
I may see something in the creature that's helpful.
Agreed. Prepare an away team.
I will remain on the ship.
The object is not to engage it in battle.
The goal is the safe return of Counsellor Troi and Lt. Prieto.
I can best accomplish this at the tactical station.
Very good. Number One?
We're approaching the shuttlecraft. The creature is covering it.
I lied to you. They came back.
- Let me talk with them. - No!
Why? Does the thought of my having contact with them make you uneasy?
No.
Not being able to contact you, not knowing if you are alive,
makes them uneasy.
Can't you feel how worried they are?
Yes.
They are worried.
They care for you. You must be very special.
We are members of a community. We all care for one another.
Equally?
You were really surprised they came back.
Yes.
Why? Because the others did not?
What others?
You can't hide the emptiness from me.
The others. The ones who hurt you.
Who left you alone, rejected.
The ones who make you so angry.
What do you know of them?
Only what you tell me.
I will tell you nothing.
Not now.
But soon.
Captain, look at this.
The energy field around the shuttle decreased for a few moments
when the creature was draped over it.
- Low enough to beam them out? - Almost.
It's approaching the away team.
The energy field over the craft is back to full intensity.
- Chart it. Look for a pattern. - Aye, sir.
She said you'd be back.
- Then she is alive? - For now.
Why have you returned?
We've no choice. We must negotiate for our team.
- What do you want? - Maybe I want nothing.
- Then you would have killed us all. - I still might.
What do you want? Tell me. Maybe we can reach an accommodation.
If I tell you, will you give it to me?
I might. It depends.
I am a doctor. I need to treat our injured friends.
Say "please".
You asked nicely.
I will allow it.
Wait!
I've changed my mind. Talk to her from here.
How?
Troi, can you hear me?
Deanna, are you alright?
I can hear you.
Are you alright?
Yes.
We've encountered some difficulty.
I know.
She needs our help!
So what?
Our friends are suffering, meters away, yet you block our path. Why?
You are all... ungrateful!
What is he made of?
It did not register on the tricorder.
"It"? Does that mean I am not alive?
No. Clearly, you are some kind of intelligent form.
But you said I did not register on your instrument.
Perhaps your instruments are useless.
Don't help him.
Half-meter to the right.
Aren't you going to lead him to his sight again, robot?
No. You will just move it again.
- I will not help you hurt him. - Then give it to him.
I will find something else to amuse me.
You said they wouldn't amuse me. You were right.
And the emptiness remains.
You sound so alone.
I am alone.
Abandoned.
Who deserted you?
Creatures whose beauty now dazzles all who see them.
They would not exist without me.
You were together?
They perfected a means of bringing to the surface
all that was evil and negative within.
Erupting, spreading, connecting...
In time, it formed a second skin, dank and vile.
- You. - Yes.
They discarded you and left.
And here I am.
You have my pity.
Your pity?
Save that for yourself!
Something's got me!
Touch him and he dies.
No, don't!
Armus has... enveloped Cmdr Riker.
I'm beaming you up.
If any of you leave now, he dies.
And so do the survivors of the crash.
Captain's log, supplemental.
There is grave danger to the crew on Vagra ll.
My First Officer is missing,
attacked by this entity known as Armus.
Captain, take a look at this.
The chart of the energy field around the shuttle.
- A lot of fluctuations. - Yes, but there is a pattern.
Here is where it killed Lt. Yar.
Here is where it absorbed Cmdr Riker.
And here, here, where the energy is lowest?
Both times it had enveloped the shuttle.
It has something to do with Counsellor Troi.
Somehow, when it's dealing with her, the energy field is affected.
I want to talk to her. I'll beam down.
Lt. Worf, you have the conn.
Imzadi!
No! Please, stop hurting him!
He resists.
If he would give himself over, the pain would diminish.
He struggles. You should feel his strength.
I can.
Should I let him go?
You only ask to torment me!
Perhaps.
How should I answer?
What can I offer except myself?
And would you give yourself for him? Would you give that much?
Yes. Without hesitation.
Just for him?
No. Not just for him.
I would do the same for any of the others.
Armus, you have me.
- Let them go! - Perhaps.
Another has arrived.
You are the one in charge?
- Is Cmdr Riker alive? - Answer, Tin Man!
I would guess that death is no longer sufficient to alleviate its boredom.
Therefore, Cmdr Riker is alive.
Maybe.
Don't you want to ask me what I want?
No.
Not even to protect your own existence?
I want to see my people in the shuttle.
Entertain me.
Then I will do it myself.
You, Tin Man.
Tell me, how would you feel
if you were the instrument of death for your leader?
Don't struggle.
I do not control the phaser.
Therefore, I would not be the instrument of his death.
Perhaps killing the Doctor would engender more feeling.
No. The control is still yours.
And what about you, Doctor? Are you ready to die?
Tell me you are not afraid.
I am afraid.
- Beg me to spare you. - No.
One of you is going to die. And you, Doctor, get to choose.
You don't like that, do you?
- Then I choose myself. - No.
You are going to live.
One of them dies.
Maybe this one.
Though I would not call it death, since he is only a device.
Tell me, Tin Man, how does it feel to face your own extinction?
Curious.
You are capable of great sadism and cruelty.
Interesting. No redeeming qualities.
So what do you think?
I think you should be destroyed.
A moral judgement from a machine.
Armus, we're finished dealing with you.
I have your man in here. And the others in the shuttle.
No matter. We will no longer be a source of amusement.
I can kill them.
Yes. But only I can command them. They follow my orders.
Have them amuse me.
Only if I see my people on the shuttle first.
Not possible!
Then our business is concluded.
And you claim you care about your comrades.
I care. Which is why I must see them.
You want to see your people?
Then, here.
Look...
..at this one!
He's alive.
Don't move.
Is he alright?
All signs show normal.
So much frustration. It had to get rid of me.
Now, let me see the others.
No.
My people will not entertain you until you do.
They are incapable of entertaining me.
I want you four out of here. Enterprise, beam up the away team.
Aye, sir.
They're no longer involved. This is between you and me.
They may leave.
- Now... - I want to leave this place.
You want me to give you transportation?
For which I will trade you lives.
I must see my people in the shuttle.
Will you give me what I want?
I have the means. But first, I must see my people.
If you must.
Troi, are you alright?
Yes. But Ben is not.
He's alive.
Were you able to help Tasha?
No.
Troi, we must talk.
I believe we can out manoeuvre this creature, and beam you and Ben up.
We monitored the energy field around the shuttle.
When the creature is here, the field weakens.
- Do you know why? - The creature is filled with rage.
Undirected, unfocused rage.
When he confronts it, his guard goes down,
because he's feeling it instead of suppressing it.
Acknowledging his needs makes him vulnerable.
- What caused the rage? - He was left here.
Abandoned.
The force field has to drop below 2.7 before we can beam them up.
- Satisfied? - Yes.
- Then can we leave? - To go where?
Do you want to find those who left you here?
She told you about them!
How long have you been here?
Since they left.
A very long time.
A long time to be alone.
Save your compassion. It's revolting.
You offer it like a prize when in fact it's an insult.
Because you feel unworthy.
You overrate your gift. You humans are puny, weak.
But our spirit is indomitable.
And still you die from a flake of my power.
A great poet once said,
"All spirits are enslaved that serve things evil."
You do not understand.
I do not serve things evil. I am evil!
No. You are not.
I am a skin of evil, left here by a race of Titans,
who believed, if they rid themselves of me,
they would free the bonds of destructiveness.
Yes. So here you are. Feeding on your own loneliness.
Consumed by your own pain. Believing your own lies.
Set the computer.
When the energy level reaches 2.6.205, beam up Troi and Prieto.
We'll do a parallel transport on the Captain.
You say you are true evil?
Shall I tell you what true evil is?
It is to submit to you.
To surrender our freedom,
our dignity, instead of defying you.
I will kill you and those in there.
But you will still be here.
In this place.
For ever. Alone. Immortal.
Stand by for parallel transport.
The energy level has dropped to 2.6.3.
That's your real fear.
Never to die!
Never again to be united with those who left you.
Energy field is 2.6. Computer beginning transport.
I'm not taking you anywhere.
Captain's log, star date 41602. 1.
The shuttlecraft has been destroyed
to prevent any possibility of Armus leaving the planet.
Vagra Il will be declared off limits.
But the damage has been done.
One of the saddest duties I have ever had to perform
is now ahead of me.
We are here together to honour our friend and comrade,
Lt. Natasha Yar.
Coming to terms with the loss of a colleague
is perhaps the most difficult task we must face
in the work we have chosen to pursue.
We will all find time to grieve for her in the days ahead.
But for now,...
..she has asked that we celebrate her life...
..with this.
Hello, my friends.
You are here watching this image of me because I have died.
It probably happened while I was on duty, and quickly,
which is what I expected.
Never forget I died doing exactly what I chose to do.
I want you to know how much I loved my life,
and those of you who shared it with me.
You are my family.
You all know where I came from and what my life was like before.
But Starfleet took that frightened angry girl and tempered her.
I have been blessed with your friendship and your love.
You are the best.
You trusted me,
you encouraged me, and, most of all, you made me laugh.
You are capable of so much love.
You taught me without ever having to say a word.
I realized I could be feminine without losing anything.
We are so much alike, you and l. Both warriors.
Orphans who found ourselves this family.
I hope I met death with my eyes wide open.
Your fierce devotion comes from within.
It can't be diminished.
From you, I have learned to strive for excellence,...
..no matter what the personal cost.
I'm sorry I won't be able to see you grow
into the exceptional man you'll become.
But your kindness and innocence are ageless.
In those moments I felt the most despair,
you took my hand and helped me to see things differently.
You taught me to look beyond the moment.
My friend, Data, you see things with the wonder of a child.
And that makes you more human than any of us.
I wish I could say you've been like a father to me.
But I've never had one, so I don't know what it feels like.
But if there was someone in this universe I could choose to be like,
someone who I would want to make proud of me,...
..it's you.
You who have the heart of an explorer and the soul of a poet.
So, you'll understand when I say,...
..death is that state in which one exists only in the memory of others.
Which is why it is not an end.
No goodbyes.
Just good memories.
Hailing frequencies closed, sir.
Au revoir, Natasha.
The gathering is concluded.
Sir,...
..the purpose of this gathering... confuses me.
How so?
My thoughts are not for Tasha,...
..but for myself.
I keep thinking how empty it will be without her presence.
Did I miss the point?
No, you didn't. You got it.
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