While two aliens on the planet Risa appear out of nowhere and wait for Picard, Troi suggests that Picard, who just finished weeks of grueling negotiations to iron out a trade agreement, needs a holiday. After half the major bridge crew tries to persuade him, Picard finally agrees to go (realizing he won't get a moment's peace if he refuses). As Picard leaves, Riker asks him to pick up a horgon. Upon his arrival, a girl crashes into him, and then when she sees a Ferengi, kisses him soundly hello.

Picard tries to relax by the pool, but keeps getting interrupted by women who ask if they can make his stay more pleasant. Eventually, he discovers the horgon is a symbol of sexuality, and puts the thing away. A short time after that, Sovak, the Ferengi, orders him to keep away from the woman and that the disk (whatever that may be) belongs to him. Picard, however, is none too impressed, and orders him off. Then, Vash, the woman who kissed him earlier, shows up again, and when he realizes that she is the woman Sovak spoke of, he leaves in a huff, but not before Vash slips the disk into his pocket. He returns to his room, only to find the two aliens waiting for him. They claim to be Vorgons, from the 27th century, and tell him of the Tox Uthat, a weapon from their time which is now hidden on Risa. They say that Picard will discover the Uthat here, and ask that he give it to them when he do so.

Picard then finds the disk, and confronts Vash with it. As it happens, the disk contains all the research of a professor Vash used to work for, who spent his life searching for the Uthat. She wants to find it to give it to the Daystrom Institute, and Sovak wants to sell it. Picard says he'll go in her place to find it, but Vash insists on coming along. As they prepare to leave, Sovak catches them and threatens them, saying he paid Vash to steal the disk for him, so it's his. Picard grabs the gun and punches him out, and he and Vash leave.

As they eventually reach the caves, they camp for the night. Vash admits that Sovak paid her, but says he got what he deserved. Picard and Vash, each impressed with the other, end up spending very little of the evening sleeping. As they arrive at where the Uthat should be, the Vorgons appear to watch, surprising Vash. Even more surprisingly, Sovak appears, having used a copy of the disk that Vash left behind, and orders them to keep digging for him. However, even after hours, they find nothing, perplexing the Vorgons, and stupefying Sovak, whom they leave to keep digging on his own. The next morning, Picard, not fooled at all, confronts Vash and gets her to admit that she went to the cave earlier and got the Uthat then. She admits it, and then the Vorgons show up. However, when Vash warns Picard that these two may well have been the thieves who tried to steal the Uthat in the first place, he destroys it rather than give it to them. He kisses Vash goodbye, then returns to the ship.

Highlight Listing:

"Captain's Holiday." While on vacation, Picard becomes entangled in the search for a missing weapon from the future.

Advertising Headline:

TROUBLE IN PARADISE! Picard's tropical vacation turns into a desperate search to save the future!

TV log listing:

Picard finds trouble in paradise/STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION

Operation SNAFU

Picard is giving Vash the shovel with the handle pointing towards Picard. Switch to a far shot and the handle is now pointing to Vash.

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