In this episode, the crew of the USS Enterprise saves an isolated, genetically engineered society from immediate destruction; the cultural contamination resulting from their interaction may still ultimately doom the colony.
On contacting the colony to arrange for evacuation, its leader Aaron Conor (John Snyder) refuses, though he allows an away team to visit to discuss the matter.
Bates proposes using a multi-phase tractor beam, powered by the Enterprise's warp core, to push the fragment from its path, which La Forge agrees would be a possible solution.
La Forge recognizes her solution could be augmented with similar technology that enables his VISOR to operate, allowing the equipment to last long enough to manipulate the fragment safely away from Moab IV.
As they leave orbit, Picard comments how this affair is a clear example of the necessity of the Prime Directive; the intervention of the Federation to save the colonists may have, in the end, proved just as dangerous to the colony as any core fragment could ever have been.