The Enterprise is receiving a delegation of ambassadors from Iyar. As Picard prepares to return with Voval, the Iyaaran pilot, to meet with the head of state, the two ambassadors, Loquel and Byleth, stay behind to explore the human culture. Loquel works with Troi, and Byleth works with a very reluctant Worf.

Things quickly take, if not a negative turn, at least a decidedly strange one. Loquel quickly becomes fascinated with desserts, a foreign concept to his world, while Byleth appears to be one of the only people who has fewer social graces than Worf, who does not respond well to the treatment he receives. Meanwhile, Picard's trip is rudely interrupted when the power to the Iyaaran shuttle fails and they crash-land on a deserted planet. With Voval wounded, Picard leaves to try to find help, but is struck by plasma lightning and dragged away unconscious.

He wakes to find himself in a crashed Terellian freighter, with only one rather bedraggled woman for company. The woman, Anna, seems somewhat unfamiliar with speech, and claims to have been a passenger on the freighter when it crashed. (Almost as an aside, she also mentions that Voval is dead.) They both find out that she's been on the planet for seven years, and she reacts very badly to the news. Picard, trying to be as reassuring as possible, says that if they work together they can manage to leave the world. She is grateful, but cautions him not to exert himself or even move very much - he has several broken ribs, and the restricting field she's placed on him to help the bones knit will impede his motion. She offers to go to the crashed shuttle and pick up equipment they can use, and then leaves him alone, locking the door from the outside.

When she returns, she insists that the door had to be locked for his protection, and Picard then finds that she accidentally damaged the equipment she was getting beyond repair while extracting it. She is despondent at this new setback, but Picard reassures her that things will still work out. Anna then surprises him by saying that she doesn't ever want to be alone again - and that she loves him.

As he works on a power cell they might be able to use, he tries to convince her that she's simply a bit confused about how she feels. Meanwhile, on the Enterprise, Riker decides to ease tensions by inviting both ambassadors to a friendly poker game. Unfortunately, Byleth steals chips from Worf, and the tensions rapidly escalate into a fight between the two. They seem evenly matched, but Byleth stops abruptly, thanking Worf for a wonderful "demonstration" and leaving to "write up this experience."

As the power cell is finally charged, Picard tries to get ready to return to the shuttle, but Anna stops him, saying it's too dangerous. In the ensuing argument, he removes the restraining field on himself and finds that he never had any broken ribs at all. Now quite annoyed, Picard accuses Anna of holding him captive. She says merely that she wants him to love her, and jumps him. He, however, continues to resist, prompting her to get very depressed about having "failed." She leaves, locking Picard in the freighter again. As he attempts to get out, someone else approaches, yells hello, and enters.

It's Voval, who only appeared dead. He quickly brings Picard up to date on the situation, and then encourages Picard to go search for Anna before she does herself harm. The two search a nearby cliff, and just after they separate Picard finds Anna, ready to jump unless he loves her.

He, however, spots a necklace around her neck which was broken when she ran out of the freighter, and realizes that he's being manipulated. He refuses to love her, and Anna reverts back to her true form - that of Ambassador Voval. Voval informs him that after finding records of a crash survivor on this planet, three representatives were sent out to experience the concepts of pleasure (Loquel), antagonism (Byleth), and love (Voval). While Picard points out that their actions are technically criminal, he is content to merely return home. They return, and Picard calls it "intriguing" to see a race that experiences a concept to such an extreme.

Highlight Listing:

"Liaisons" - While the crew plays host to ambassadors from an alien race, Picard is stranded on a barren planet with a woman who falls depserately in love with him.

Advertising Headline:

STRANGE VISITORS A visit by alien ambassadors wreak havoc for Picard, Worf, and Troi!

TV log listing:

Visiting alien ambassadors disturb crew on STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION.

Operation SNAFU

In the poker scene, when the Ambassador "stole" some of Worf's chips, Worf stated that he saw him steal 2 of his chips, but the cut-a-way shot clearly showed him taking 3. (UV)

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