Patrick Stewart credited as playing...
Captain Jean-Luc Picard
- Doctor Beverly Crusher: Captain, you must set your phaser on kill. Stun has little effect.
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Doctor, one does not beam down to Starfleet Headquarters armed.
- Admiral Aaron: What do you know of conspiracies, Captain?
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Not nearly enough, I suppose.
- Admiral Aaron: That's the charming thing about them, isn't it? When a machination is real, no one knows about it. And when it's suspected, it's almost never real.
- Admiral Savar: Except, of course, in paranoid delusions, for those who believe.
- Captain Tryla Scott: All we ask is that you keep your eyes open.
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: That's sound advice at any time, Captain.
- [last lines]
- Lt. Cmdr. Data: Captain, I have attempted to trace the message Remmick was sending. I believe it was aimed at an unexplored sector of our galaxy.
- Lieutenant Geordi La Forge: Any idea what the message was, Data?
- Lt. Cmdr. Data: I believe it was a beacon.
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: A beacon?
- Lt. Cmdr. Data: Yes, sir. A homing beacon - sent from Earth.
- [in space, the beeping signal of a transmission can be heard, fading out]
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: How difficult, after all these years of learning to respect life, to be forced to destroy it.
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Tryla Scott - said you made captain faster than anyone in Starfleet history, present company included. Are you that good?
- Captain Tryla Scott: [smiling] Yes, I am.
- Computer Voice: [Picard has received a Code 47 over subspace from Starfleet for his eyes only] This is an emergency communique. It is not to be discussed with fellow officers unless deemed absolutely necessary. There will be no computer record of said transmission.
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Understood.
- Computer Voice: Proceed with voice print identification.
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Picard, Jean-Luc. Captain, USS Enterprise.
- Computer Voice: Voice print verified.
- [a middle-aged Starfleet Captain appears on the monitor]
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Walker!
- Captain Walker Keel: Hello Jean-Luc. It's been a long time.
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Too long, old friend. Why are you contacting me on this frequency?
- Captain Walker Keel: It was a difficult decision. I felt it was worth the risk.
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Risk?
- Captain Walker Keel: It's about Starfleet, about something we've always considered to be impossible.
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: I don't understand.
- Captain Walker Keel: I can't explain it now. We need to talk face to face.
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: You're using a Code 47. I have to know what all this is about.
- Captain Walker Keel: Not over subspace. No.
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Oh, for God's sake, Walker. This is a secured channel.
- Captain Walker Keel: [more forceful] No! I want you to meet me on Dytallix B.
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: When?
- Captain Walker Keel: Immediately.
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: No, not possible. We're expected at Pacifica.
- Captain Walker Keel: That can wait. You owe me, and you owe it to yourself to hear what I have to say. Something is beginning. Don't trust anyone. Remember that, Jean-Luc. Don't take anything for granted.
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Walker?
- Captain Walker Keel: Dytallix B. We'll be waiting.
- [the monitor goes blank and Picard is both confused and concerned]
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: [after Picard's meeting with Keel about a possible Starfleet conspiracy] Friends, close friends, few and far between. Two of the oldest and closest were Jack Crusher, may he rest in peace and Walker Keel. Before various missions split us up we were virtually inseparable. I trust Keel completely. If he felt it necessary to violate regulations he must have had a very good reason.
- Counselor Deanna Troi: But you're putting your career at risk for him.
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Friendship must dare to risk, Counsellor. Or it's not friendship.
- Counselor Deanna Troi: They illicitly use the emergency channel to draw you here. Then they ask you to keep secrets from your superiors. Effectively to disobey Starfleet regulations.
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: The people involved in this are of the highest calibre. If I didn't believe in they're loyalty I wouldn't have gone this far.
- Counselor Deanna Troi: Don't you think you should tell the rest of the crew?
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: No, I don't want to risk implicating them. Not until I have solid evidence that something really is wrong.