Afterwards, at the urging of Captain Picard, Commander Riker and Deanna Troi decide to take a quick shore leave on Betazed while the Enterprise heads out on a routine mission studying a nebula.
Once freed, Deanna and Riker attempt to send a message to the Enterprise, only to learn that the ship's communication system is secured by access code.
Farek threatens to humiliate Tog by revealing his incompetence to the Ferengi, but offers to forget the incident if Lwaxana is turned over to him for experimentation, despite the fact that the proposed tests may be lethal.
Riker taps into the system on the Krayton that suppresses Cochrane distortion from the ship's warp field, and modulates it to generate a signal in a pattern he hopes the Enterprise crew will recognize.
In the midst of the search, Acting Ensign Wesley Crusher is in final preparation to depart to Earth for his second attempt to pass the Starfleet Academy entrance exam.
Riker, having finished setting up the modulation of the Cochrane distortion, arms himself and bursts into Farek's lab to free Lwaxana, but a standoff ensues when Tog enters with a phaser.
", by Alfred, Lord Tennyson whilst giving orders to fire all weapons at the Krayton if Lwaxana is not back in his arms in ten seconds, then ominously begins a countdown.
Wesley Crusher is later summoned to the ready room by Picard, where he is informed that he will have to wait for another year before he can reapply for entrance to Starfleet Academy; in the interim, he will remain on the Enterprise.
[3] In 2020, GameSpot noted this episode as one of the most bizarre moments of the series, Picard's speech, which they felt while humorous was close to being ridiculous to them.