Beverly's life has taken a turn for the better- she's in love with Ambassador Odan, a negotiator of the Trill race, who's on board to get to a dispute between two moons of the world Peliar. However, Odan isn't quite what he seems-Troi keeps getting fluctuations of emotion from him, and when he's alone, we see...something...moving around in his stomach.

The trip is for the most part uneventful, marked only by Bev receiving a bit of ribbing from Deanna about her new flame. Once they arrive at the planet in question, however, things happen very fast. Odan and Riker attempt to shuttle down to the planet (Odan claiming he's not comfortable with transporters), but the shuttle is fired on. Riker manages, barely, to get it back to the Enterprise, but Odan is critically injured. Or rather, Odan's host body is critically injured-as it happens, the Trill are a joint species, and the parasite within the host body is the true Odan.

The body dies, and a replacement host from the Trill is 40 hours away, far longer than Odan could survive alone, even in stasis. Since Odan might be able to survive in a human host, Riker volunteers to be that host temporarily. The process is a little bumpy, but it works.

The aftermath is a problem, however. First, Riker/Odan must convince both Governor Leka and the two representatives of the factions that he's legitimate. Secondly, Riker's body is slowly but surely rejecting Odan, and it's unclear how long he can last. Thirdly, Beverly is very...uncomfortable with this situation, particularly when Riker/Odan says he still loves her, and still wants her.

All three problems are resolved, more or less. Odan is accepted as negotiator by all three parties, and Beverly manages to accept that the man she loves is still there, inside Riker's body. Unfortunately, the rejection continues, and Odan makes Beverly swear to remove him at the end of the day's negotiations, regardless of whether the new host has arrived.

Fortunately, his negotiations are successful, and while Odan has to spend a little time in stasis between hosts, both Odan and Riker survive. The change of hosts, however, becomes too much for Beverly, especially when she finds that the new Trill host is a woman. Saying "I can't keep up," she tells Odan that although she still loves him and will never forget him, it's over.

Highlight Listing:

"The Host" - Dr. Crusher's love is put to the test when she falls for an alien who exists in different "host bodies" in order to survive.

Advertising Headline:

ALIEN DESIRE Beverly falls in love with an alien ambassador!

TV log listing:

Alien ambassador wins Beverly's heart 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