In this episode, an explosion aboard the Enterprise leads to a high-level investigation headed by Admiral Norah Satie (Jean Simmons), a retired officer renowned for her skill at exposing conspiracies.
When an explosion within the dilithium chamber of the Federation starship Enterprise's main engineering appears to be the work of sabotage, Starfleet Command dispatches Norah Satie (Jean Simmons), a retired rear admiral from the Legal Division of its Support Services Section, to lead an investigation to uncover the cause.
Worf (Michael Dorn) discovers that J'Dan (Henry Woronicz), a Klingon exchange officer, had been using modified hypospray syringes to encode information into amino acid sequences for secret transport.
Satie and Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) interview crew members who associated with J'Dan, including Dr. Beverly Crusher and medical technician Simon Tarses (Spencer Garrett).
Meanwhile, Chief Engineer Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) and Lieutenant Commander Data (Brent Spiner) determine that the hatch had failed due to simple fatigue, not sabotage.
After they leave the ship, Picard privately confers with Worf, displaying regret at the arrogance he has shown as a human of the 24th Century as opposed to one in the 20th and earlier ("We think we've come so far.
[13] That same year the rated as the most important TNG episode with a morality message that "in an age of social media and out of control fake news, Admiral Satie's rhetoric has been taken to insane extremes within our culture, forcing us to once again examine our propensity for falling victim to conspiracy theories and nefarious agendas perpetuated by bad-faith actors.
[15] CBS announced on September 28, 2011, in celebration of the series' twenty-fifth anniversary, that Star Trek: The Next Generation would be completely re-mastered in 1080p high definition from the original 35mm film negatives.
[19] This episode was released in the United States on September 3, 2002, as part of the Star Trek: The Next Generation season four DVD box set.