After the Enterprise finds traces of Acamarian blood at a science outpost that's been attacked, Picard deduces the Gatherers, Acamarian renegades, are at fault. He speaks to Marouk, Sovereign of Acamar Three, who wants only to hunt the Gatherers down as savages, despite the fact that no one's even tried reconciling in decades. Eventually, Picard convinces Marouk to at least allow the attempt, and she comes on board the Enterprise with her staff, including Yuta, her chef, whom Riker immediately takes an interest in.

Upon arriving at Gamma Hroni Two, a Gatherer outpost in the Hroni Cluster, Riker leads an away team down to the surface. After repelling an ambush, Riker eventually manages to get Brull, the leader of this group of Gatherers, to talk to Marouk. Marouk tells them the Clan Wars of decades before are over, and invites them home. Brull demands a private talk with Marouk and Picard, and while everyone's separated, Yuta touches Volnath, a Gatherer of the Lornack clan, killing him in seconds.

After Brull announces that he will allow Marouk to take her offer to Chorgan, the Gatherer leader, Volnath's body is found, and Beverly can't find a cause of death (it was a heart attack, but with no reason). While Marouk discusses clans (to which loyalty was once absolute) with Picard, and Brull talks to Wes about wanting something better for his children, Riker tries to romance Yuta. After she leaves for a time to attend the Sovereign, Bev informs Riker that she's discovered a "microvirus" was responsible- one tuned specifically to a certain DNA sequence found in only one out of every million people, and they conclude Volnath was murdered.

Later, Yuta comes to Riker's quarters and offers him pleasure, but claims she can never feel pleasure or passion herself. (Riker declines, saying he doesn't want a servant, but a lover.) Then, after subduing Chorgan's ship, Picard and Marouk beam over by force with Brull, and negotiations begin. Bev finds the only other recorded victim of this microvirus, and discovers both victims were of the Lornack clan. Then, Data discovers evidence of the Lornack- Tralestas feud (Tralestas being the clan to which Yuta belongs), and discovers Yuta in a visual record from over 50 years ago, looking exactly as she does now.

Negotiations on Chorgan's ship take a quick break, and Yuta comes to offer brandy, particularly to Chorgan, the last remaining Lornack alive. Riker beams over and orders her away, and we discover that she was altered after the massacre of nearly all the Tralestas to be a carrier of this virus, bred only for vengeance. When she proves resistant to phaser stun, Riker finds himself forced to disintegrate her. The negotiations lead to a successful truce, and Picard consoles Riker in Ten-Forward about his loss.

Program highlight:

STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - "The Vengeance Factor." The crew's attempts to mediate a violent dispute between warring clans is sabotaged by a mysterious assassin.

Highlight Listing:

The crew's attempts to mediate a violent dispute between warring clans is sabotaged by a mysterious assassin.

Advertising Headline:

FATAL VENGEANCE The crew's peace talks are sabotaged by a beautiful assassin!

TV log listing:

Peace talks threatened by assassin on STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION

Technical design, graphic design, interactive features, HTML & CGI programming by Andrew Tong. || All materials Copyright © 1987-1995 by their respective authors. || Document created: January 28, 1995 || Last Modified: November 09, 2010