While Worf leads an away team to the home of 
the long-dead Koinonian race, a sudden 
explosion kills one team member, Marla Aster. 
She has a 12-year-old son Jeremy on board, who 
Picard must tell the news to. As he departs to do 
this (and complains to Troi about having 
children on board), Wes starts thinking of the 
day that Picard told him his father had been 
killed. Picard tells Jeremy his mother has died, 
and when Jeremy says he's all alone, reassures 
him that "on the Enterprise, no one is alone."
<P>
In 10-Forward, Data and Riker discuss how 
familiarity affects one's perceptions of another's 
death, and remember how it felt when Tasha 
died. Geordi comes back from the planet, with 
evidence that all the remaining booby-traps had 
been defused. Worf, meanwhile, rages about the 
senseless nature of Aster's death, and tells Troi 
of his plan to make it up to Jeremy by offering 
him the R'uustaI, or the bonding. Despite Troi's 
qualms, Worf talks to Jeremy. Though he does 
not yet offer the R'uustaI, he discusses Klingon 
views of death, and suggests to Jeremy that they 
honor his mother's memory together.
<P>
Meanwhile, sensors detect an energy field on the 
planet, and Troi senses a "presence" emanating 
from it, slowly moving upward toward the ship. 
After we see a brief conversation between Wes 
and Bev about Jack Crusher, a hand taps 
Jeremy on the shoulder, and he turns around to 
see his mother. At first wary of this strange 
happenstance, he quickly comes to believe his 
mother really is alive, and meekly prepares to 
leave with her to go live down on the planet. 
Before they beam down, however, they are 
stopped by Worf, who seizes Jeremy (at which 
point his "mother" disappears).
<P>
Troi leads Jeremy back to his quarters, only to 
find they now exactly resemble his house on 
Earth, and that his "mother" is there again. 
Though Troi tries to convince Jeremy that none 
of this is real, he is enthralled, and stays with 
Mom. Picard manages to keep the pair from 
going much further than their quarters, and the 
alien quickly explains herself.
<P>
There were apparently once two races on the 
planet below- the Koinonians, made of matter; 
and her race, made of energy. Her race vowed 
never to let anyone suffer because of the 
Koinonians' wars, and she is merely trying to 
make Jeremy happy. Picard calls Wesley into 
Jeremy's quarters, along with Worf, and asks 
Wesley to explain to Jeremy how he felt when he 
heard Jack had died. After Wes explains how 
angry he was at Picard for leading the mission 
where Jack died, Jeremy faces his anger towards 
Worf, who then discusses having lost his 
parents, and offers Jeremy the R'uustaI. He 
accepts, and his "mother" vanishes, as Jeremy 
and Worf bond.
<P>