The Arsenal of Freedom (TNG episode)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Star Trek: TNG episode | |
| "The Arsenal of Freedom" | |
 The Enterprise battles with a Minoan weapons platform, in "The Arsenal of Freedom". |
|
| Episode no. | 21 |
|---|---|
| Prod. code | 121 |
| Airdate | April 11, 1988 |
| Writer(s) | Richard Manning Hans Beimler |
| Director | Les Landau |
| Guest star(s) | Vincent Schiavelli, Marco RodrÃguez, Vyto Rugins, Julia Nickson, George De La Pena |
| Year | 2364 |
| Stardate | 41798.2 |
| Episode chronology | |
| Previous | "Heart of Glory" |
| Next | "Symbiosis" |
"The Arsenal of Freedom" is a first season episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, first broadcast April 11, 1988. It is episode #21, production #121, teleplay written by Richard Manning and Hans Beimler, based on a story by Maurice Hurley and Robert Lewin, and directed by Les Landau.
Overview: The demonstration of an advanced planetary defense system turns deadly.
[edit] Plot
On stardate 41798.2, the USS Enterprise searches the Lorenze Cluster looking for the USS Drake which has mysteriously vanished. The last message from the Drake, was to confirm her arrival at the planet Minos, then it was never heard from again. Reports indicate the planet Minos is uninhabited, and the Drake was sent to find out what happened to the race that had lived there. As the Enterprise approaches the planet, Mr. Data elaborates on the history of the Minos people, indicating they had gained fame during the Ersalrope Wars as arms merchants. They were manufacturers of highly advanced and sophisticated weaponry for both sides of the war. Commander Riker indicates he knew the Drake's Captain, Paul Rice, from the Academy, saying he was an able, dedicated officer. Captain Picard wonders how Rice handled stress, to which Riker remembers him being confident to the point of arrogance, but he always made good decisions.
Data confirms the sensor reports. There is no humanoid life left on Minos, only plants and animals. They speculate what happened to all those people. Worf suggests a war. Data wonders about a disease. Geordi guesses a "dissatisfied customer". Lt. Yar mentions in all those scenarios, there has to be some survivors. At this point, the ship is hailed from the planet. A cheerful man with a rolling voice and the confidence of a master salesman appears. He announces greetings from Minos, "The Arsenal of Freedom..." Picard tries to respond, but the figure keeps talking over him; "...where our motto is peace through superior firepower! Allow us to meet your needs!" Obviously it's a prerecorded message. The salesman finishes; "...we promise versatility, and flexibility. Everything is 100% guaranteed! So lock on to my signal and beam on down!" Picard believes if the automated response system is still working, other systems down there must be operating as well. Riker knows there is only one way to find out. He heads up the away team and beams down with Data and Yar.
The three arrive in an area overgrown by ferns, filled with the sounds of birds and insects. They look around tensely, ready for anything. Data scans with his tricorder, and indicates their transmissions are being monitored. The Enterprise calls down to the team, having detected a signal emanating a few meters away toward the east. Riker searches the underbrush, but is unable to find anything. Suddenly, he hears a familiar voice behind him say "hello". Riker turns and sees Captain Rice has appeared from nowhere. Riker is stunned, but Rice, under the circumstances, is calm and business-like, as if the meeting were perfectly normal. Rice asks Riker how he has been, but Riker wonders what happened to the Drake and her crew. Picard overhears Riker's conversation and asks who he's talking too. Riker explains he just found Captain Rice. Picard is confused. Ensign Tsu, who is monitoring the area from the conn, indicates she detects a low-level energy reading near Riker, but maintains the only life signs are from the away team. Rice is obviously some kind of projection. Riker proceeds with caution. Data and Yar approach, but Rice hardly takes notice of them. He asks Riker who had sent him here? Riker replies; "Your mother. She's worried about you."
Rice then asks about the Enterprise. What kind of defensive systems does she have? Riker plays along and says his ship is called the Lollipop (assuring Rice that "it's a good ship"), to throw him off. Rice then asks about the capabilities of that ship since he hasn't never heard of it. Riker wonders why he wants to know so much about it, but Rice indicates their survival depends on it. Riker makes up some confusing numbers and dodges other questions, then tells Rice he's noticed he hasn't addressed him by his first name yet. Since they're old friends, he should know it. Rice seems to hesitate, looking for a good response, but Riker knows he is unable to answer the question because he isn't real. The image of Rice fades to reveal some kind of robotic sentry that hovers in the air above them. The sentry fires a beam that encases Riker in a bubble of energy. Tasha fires her phaser at the sentry and destroys it. They hear a concerned Captain Picard calling repeatedly for a status report. Tasha informs him Riker has been trapped inside a bubble of some kind. Picard orders the transporter room to beam them up immediately, but the technician is unable to get a lock on them. Data reports Riker is in some sort of stasis, and theorizes that the purpose for the containment is storage. Tasha guesses, sooner or later, something will come along to collect him. Picard tells them he is beaming down. He orders Dr. Crusher to accompany him, and gives La Forge the bridge. He reminds Geordi that, no matter what happens below, his prime responsibility is for the ship's safety.
Picard and Crusher beam down and rush over to the others. Beverly scans Riker, but she doesn't find any life readings. Picard assures her he's alive. He had heard of a similar intelligence-gathering system used during the Ersalrope Wars. It projects an image of someone of trust to obtain as much tactical information as possible. If that didn't work, the device would immobilize the subject so they could be brought in for interrogation. Tasha can't help but marvel at the effective methods of the system. Worf calls down to warn them of another energy reading at their location. Before they can react, another sentry drone appears and begins firing at them. This drone seems to react better to their counterattack than the last one did. The team runs in all directions to take cover. Picard and Dr. Crusher head to a clearing, where suddenly, the ground seems to swallow them up. Picard tries to grab Beverly, but they both fall through to a chamber below. Picard lands in a safer position atop of a pile of sand, but Beverly is half buried under rubble, and he rushes to clear it away before she suffocates.
Meanwhile, the sentry chases Data and Yar. Yar tries to shoot the device, but it is able to anticipate her attack and easily dodges her fire. She tells Data to fire at the device simultaneously. Perhaps it won't anticipate two blasts at the same time. When the drone is in range they both fire. The robot clears one stream, but the other blast makes a direct hit. It explodes. The pair head back toward the Captain and Doctor, but they have vanished. Yar tries to call the Enterprise, but both her and Data's communicators are out of commission. Something is jamming their signal. Underground, Picard pulls Beverly from the rubble. She's conscious but in bad shape, with a broken arm and multiple lacerations. Picard tries his communicator. It to is inoperative. He tells Beverly not to worry, they'll soon realize they are down here and beam them up. Back on the surface, Data manages to free Riker from the stasis field with a carefully set blast from his phaser. Riker is alive, but disoriented.
Back on the Enterprise, Geordi tells the transporter room to get a lock on the away team and bring them back, but before they can try, the Enterprise shields automatically come online. Worf detects a small object nearing the ship. It is firing a weapon! The small probe, not unlike the ones on the planet, appears. It manages to pack a big punch with its ray that rocks the Enterprise violently. Lights and consoles flash across the bridge. Worf gets a lock on the object and readies a torpedo, but suddenly it disappears. Confused, he scans again, finding it has moved astern. It fires again wracking the ship with wrenching force. Geordi orders a return fire, but the probe makes another disappearing act. Suddenly, Chief Engineer Logan enters the bridge. He demands to know why they haven't left orbit yet. La Forge states they have to hold out long enough to get the team back, but Logan argues that he should take command. He outranks La Forge, but Geordi explains Picard has given him command of the ship. Logan argues that Picard didn't know the ship would be attacked. Worf tracks the probe coming around for another pass. It has some kind of cloaking device. La Forge presses Worf to get a lock on it, but Logan protests; "you can't attack what you can't see". They must withdraw! Worf suggests a spread of torpedoes when the probe appears again. That might have a better chance of hitting it. Geordi goes with the plan. He tells Logan to get back to engineering and pump all the power he has into the shields. Logan reluctantly heads out.
Back on the planet, Riker comes to his feet. The team starts to search for Picard and Dr. Crusher. Suddenly, Data gets another signal. A third sentry is headed their way, but this time it's protected by a shield. He indicates these products are able to upgrade themselves. When the drone appears, they ambush it from all sides. The shield doesn't hold up against three phaser blasts, and the drone explodes. Yar mentions, that's three down, how many more to go? Data indicates a 12 minute period in between the arrival of a new drone. Yar isn't sure if they'll be able to hold out against another one if they keep "getting better". Down in the cavern, Picard tends to Beverly's wounds. Her medical kit is buried somewhere, so he has to make due with what roots and leaves he can find to craft makeshift bandages. She's lost a lot of blood and drifts in and out of consciousness. He orders her to keep talking to stay awake. He finds it difficult to be sure of what he's doing, he needs Beverly's help, but she is going into shock. He elevates her legs and tries to keep her warm.
The battle above the planet is still waging. The Enterprise fires the spread of torpedoes, but they miss. The probe keeps up its unrelenting attack. Shields are collapsing, and Logan tells La Forge that's all the power they have. The situation is desperate, and all look to La Forge for ideas. Geordi calls Logan to the bridge. It looks like Geordi is about to relinquish command, and when Logan arrives, Geordi orders them to leave orbit and head away from the planet. Geordi tells Logan to take command of the Saucer Section. He'll split the ship and head back with the Battle Section to rescue the others. Logan can't believe La Forge's courage and determination. Geordi takes Worf, Lt. Solis, and Ensign Tsu to the Battle Bridge as Logan wishes him luck. The Enterprise separates, and the Battle Section turns about and races back to Minos.
Back in the cavern, Picard looks around for some more vegetation to use as clean bandages. He notices a flicker of light behind some heavy overgrowth and clears it away. He is amazed to find what looks like a computer terminal. The system appears to be operational. Above him, Data discovers they are standing upon an artificial structure. He finds an air vent leading underground. Riker begins clearing away the debris as Data warns they have two minutes until another weapon arrives. Below, Picard looks over the ancient computer system. He presses some buttons and is startled when a hologram of the salesman appears before him. The salesman goes over the details of the system, explaining they have devised the perfect killing system of intelligent weapons. Picard realizes they were poor fools. The first time they activated this defense system, something must have gone wrong. It must have killed them all. Destroyed by their own creation. Picard then sees the display is indicating the deployment of another attack drone. Symbols on the screen are the tracking locations of Riker, Data and Yar. Another diagram shows a drone is almost ready to be deployed. He interrupts the sales pitch, and tells the salesman to stop the drone, but the man is confused. "Why would I want to do that? It can't demonstrate its abilities unless it leaves the nest."
Riker calls down the air shaft. Picard runs to the hole and shouts up to them. He informs them of Dr. Crusher's injuries and warns them the defense system is about to attack them again. Riker looks around but finds no way to physically go down the hole. It is too deep to jump, but Data indicates he can survive the drop. He leaps down and lands safely on his feet. Yar tells Riker they have 30 seconds before the next drone appears. They run to find some cover. Picard shows Data the computer terminal. The drone has been launched and heading for their location. They have to find a way to shut it down. Data begins to tamper with the controls stating he needs to see the programming schematics, to which the salesman happily announces "You got it!" A complex diagram appears on the display. Picard asks Data if it's possible to change the target parameters. He tells Data to set it to attack the power systems of the machinery that built it, but Data warns the explosion would destroy the entire system, and them along with it. The salesman draws their attention to the main screen; "Watch closely now, the Echo-Papa-607 series is about to engage its target." The drone converges with the symbols representing Riker and Yar. Picard is out of options, but Beverly speaks up, saying; "just shut it off!" Picard turns to the salesman and tells him to shut it down, but the salesman indicates they haven't seen half of what this baby can do. Picard demands he shut it off, now! The salesman asks; "Does that mean you are going to buy it?" Picard shouts; "Yes! I've seen enough! You've made the sale!" The salesman smiles; "You won't be sorry." He vanishes and the system powers down. Riker and Yar are relieved to see the attack drone has stopped.
Communications are restored, and Picard calls to the Enterprise, but La Forge is a little busy at the moment. The Battle Section is still engaged with the drone. It takes pot shots at them and pulls its disappearing trick, making it impossible to track. Geordi is frustrated, but gets an idea. He takes the Battle Section into a risky nosedive into the atmosphere. The cloaked probe gives chase, but as it does so, the friction of the atmosphere makes a visible disturbance. He tells Worf to target the fireball. He gets a lock and annihilates the drone. The Enterprise heads out of the atmosphere, beaming up the stranded away team at the same time. The attack is over, and the Enterprise heads back to rendezvous with the saucer section.
[edit] Trivia
- This is one of only three episodes of the television series where the Enterprise separated the saucer section. As a result, this is one of the few episodes where the battle bridge is seen.
- When La Forge attempts to return command of the battle bridge to Picard, the Captain refuses, indicating that the ship was in one piece when he left it, and he wants it returned to him in the same condition. The reconnection of the ship is not shown, however, as the episode ends.
- At this stage in the series, character issues were still being sorted out, and this is probably the episode that convinced the writers that Geordi ought to be chief engineer. Logan, a much less interesting character, is not seen in any further episodes.
- The title "The Arsenal of Freedom" is an ironic comment on a planet dedicated to making weapons systems to the highest bidder. The title is also a spoof on FDR speech refering to USA as "The Arsenal of Democracy" during World War II.
| Preceded by: "Heart of Glory" |
Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes | Followed by: "Symbiosis" |
