S3E12 · The High Ground

The crew of the Enterprise is sent on a mercy mission to deliver medical supplies to the war-torn non-affiliated planet Rutia IV, in the middle of a decades-long conflict with rebel separatists called the Ansata. The Enterprise crew cannot intervene in the conflict itself. While Chief Medical Officer Dr. Crusher, Commander Data, and Lieutenant Worf relax in a cafe, a bomb goes off in a public plaza, injuring many bystanders. Dr. Crusher attempts to tend to the wounded, against Captain Picard 's request to return to the ship, but her efforts are interrupted when she is abducted by a man using an unknown method of teleportation.

After being denied the use of the Enterprise ' s superior firepower to seek and destroy the Ansata's base of operations, the head of Rutian security, Alexana Devos, orders severe interrogation of all known Ansata sympathizers, an act that the Enterprise crew find immoral. Without new information from Devos, the Enterprise crew investigate the teleportation technology and find that it is used to shift between dimensions, allowing the Ansata rebels to bypass even force fields. The investigative team, which includes Crusher's son Wesley, lets Picard know that observing more teleportations will enable them to pinpoint the location of the Ansata base.

At the base, Crusher learns her abductor is Kyril Finn, the leader of Ansata. Crusher refuses to eat or otherwise cooperate with Finn. After several hours, Finn lets Crusher out of her restraints and requests that she help treat their wounded. Crusher discovers that the "Inverters", the Ansata teleportation technology, cause irreversible damage to the user's DNA, and that many of the Ansata are sick due to excessive use of the Inverter. Finn admits that the Inverter is their only advantage against the Rutian government. Finn believes that the Federation, by providing medical aid, is working with the Rutian government, and launches an attack on the Enterprise, despite Crusher's pleas not to harm her son.

The Ansata manage to plant a bomb on the Enterprise ' s warp core not before killing several members of the crew in the process. Chief Engineer La Forge is able to remove the bomb and transport it into space, but the distraction is enough to allow Finn to appear on the bridge and abduct Captain Picard. With Picard as his captive, Finn uses the Inverter to return to the Enterprise to convey to Counselor Troi his demand that the Federation mediate the dispute between the Ansata and the Rutians; he leaves again before security officers can arrive. Picard, learning of Crusher's situation, tells her to continue to work on gaining Finn's confidence to hopefully end the dispute peacefully.

Data and Wesley are able to use Finn's appearance to locate the Ansata base, and Commander Riker and Devos assemble their forces. After they transport into the base, the combined forces are quickly able to quell the resistance. Finn, as a last resort, attempts to execute Picard, but Devos kills him. She contends that if Finn remained alive, his imprisonment would spark more resistance, while being killed in battle will elevate him to martyr status but reduce the violence in the short term. When a young Ansata member attempts to exact revenge on Devos, Crusher is able to convince him to drop his weapon, which Riker notes is a sign that there may be more fruitful discussions to resolve the issue in the future.