"We must fall back on the old axiom that when other contingencies fail, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."
All S1
S1 E15Unfinished Business
EGEdo God
[booming voice] State... the... purpose. State the purpose of what you have done.
I'm Captain Picard, commanding this Federation starship.
EGEdo God
State the purpose of your visit here.
We have sent down what we call an away team, to make peaceful contact here.
EGEdo God
Do you plan to leave life-forms here?
No. We are merely visiting here.
EGEdo God
But you did more at the world you just left. Why have you left your own life-forms there?
The colony we just planted, sir.
We found that world uninhabited. The life-forms we left there had... had sought the challenge-- at least, that is the basic reason-- had sought the challenge of creating a new lifestyle-- a new society there. Life on our world is driven to protect itself by seeding itself as widely as possible.
EGEdo God
Do not interfere with my children below.
RRivan
They are called mediators and they are needed only in one place each day.
The punishment zone, an area that's selected for a period of time.
It's a completely random selection?
No one but our mediators know what place or for how long. We're very proud of the wisdom of our ancestors. No person ever knows where or when a zone will be.
RRivan
And so no one risks death.
Death?
RRivan
By breaking any law.
Wait, explain this.
Only one punishment for any crime.
Anyone who commits any crime in the punishment zone dies?
So, we are not yet as advanced as they are. And since you are advanced in other ways, too, I suggest you use your superior powers to rescue the Wesley boy. We will record him as a convicted criminal out of our reach...an advanced person who luckily escaped the barbarism of this backward little world.
They were able to communicate with me quite...I was about to say quite easily but there was nothing easy about it. Fortunately, they stopped short of overloading my circuitry.
You're saying they? So it is a vessel of some sort?
Definitely not a single entity, if that's what you mean, sir, although they know the Edo worship them as a god thing.
They know?
They recognize that this is quite expected and harmless at the present Edo stage of evolution.
What sort of vessel?
It is perhaps not what we would understand as a vessel, sir. The dimensions this one occupies allows them to be... well, to be in several places at once, but they consider that this entire star cluster is theirs. It was probably unwise of us to attempt to place a human colony in this area. Of course, there are 3,004 other planets in this star cluster in which we could have colonized. The largest and closest...
Data! Don't babble.
Babble, sir? I am not aware that I ever babble, sir. It may be that from time to time I have considerable information to communicate, and you may question the way in which I organize it...
Please, organize it into brief answers to my questions. We have very little time. Do they accept our presence at this planet?
Undecided, sir.
Data, please feel free to volunteer any important information.
I volunteer that they are now observing us, sir.
To judge what kind of life-forms we are?
No. It is more curiosity. I doubt that they expect us to abide by their value systems.
Do they know of our Prime Directive?
They know everything I know, sir.
And if we were to violate the Prime Directive...
That's not a fair question.
How would they react?
That would be a case of judging us by our own rules, sir. If we violate our own Prime Directive they might consider us to be deceitful and untrustworthy. You do recall, they cautioned us not to interfere with their children below. What has happened?
The Edo want to execute my son.
What of justice to Wesley? Does he deserve to die?
[DELETED LINE] That is a moot issue, unfortunately. The law remains the law, regardless of whose favor it works in. Thus, the question becomes...Where is justice, save in equality?
I'm truly sorry, Liator; but I must have justice for my people, too. Transporter Room, energize...Transporter Room, come in!
TTransporter Officer
We can't energize the beam, sir. Everything checks out, but we're getting no results.
FMFirst Mediator
God has prevented your escape.
Then your God is unfair. My son had no warning that his act was criminal.
SMSecond Mediator
We cannot allow ignorance of the law to become a defense.
I don't know how to communicate this, or even if it is possible, but the question of justice has concerned me greatly of late. And I say, to any creature who may be listening, there can be no justice so long as laws are absolute. Life itself is an exercise in exceptions.
When has justice ever been as simple as a rule book?
[DELETED LINE] For us, the effectiveness of justice has always gone hand-in-hand with its simplicity.
FMFirst Mediator
[DELETED LINE] Ever since any of us can remember, there have been two basic types...those who live by the law, and those who die by it. Thus, the question becomes, How can there be justice when laws are anything but consistent?
SMSecond Mediator
[DELETED LINE] Making one exception, regardless of circumstances, would compel us to make more...and then still more, until the law became -- we believe you have a phrase for it -- until it became "nothing but words on paper". [sneers] Evidently, your idea of a just legal system is one so complicated that nobody can be punished for anything.
BBok
It is a gift from us with which we honor the hero of Maxia.
Who?
BBok
Why you, Picard, of course. Do you not remember the Battle of Maxia?
I'm sorry, I do not remember it, DaiMon Bok. Data?
Captain, he may refer to an incident which occurred nine years ago in the Maxia Zeta star system, in which an unidentified starship-
BBok
UNIDENTIFIED?! That fine vessel was Ferengi!
Which... you destroyed, sir.
Your shields were failing, sir.
Mm-hmm. I... improvised. With the enemy vessel coming in for the kill, I ordered a sensor bearing, and when it came into the return arc...
You performed what Starfleet textbooks now refer to as the "Picard Maneuver."
Well, I did what any good helmsman would have done. I dropped into high warp, stopped right off the enemy vessel's bow fired everything I had.
And blowing into maximum warp speed, you appeared for an instant to be in two places at once.
And our attacker fired on the wrong one.
BBok
Collecting on an old debt.
BBok
Die well, Captain!
KKazago
First Officer Kazago to human Riker.
Not now, Kazago!
KKazago
We do not wish to become involved in what is clearly a Federation matter...
Fine, fine! Enterprise, out.
KKazago
You should also know that DaiMon Bok no longer commands this vessel. His first officer has confined him for engaging in this unprofitable adventure. Good luck, First Officer Riker.
[Picard has just been released from Bok's mind control device]
Bok! Where is Bok?!
Removed from command, sir. And placed under guard for his act of personal vengeance. Seems there was no profit in it.
In revenge, there never is. Let the dead rest... and the past, remain the past. Enterprise, lock on. Beam me home, Riker.
Of course a Marshall outranks an Admiral!
The game will be totally unfair!
These quotes come from Wikiquote's Star Trek: The Next Generation pages and are available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.