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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Program highlight:
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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.
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