before the Enterprise meets the same fate as the Yamato. When they enter the planet's orbit, a probe is automatically launched from the surface. Having reviewed the Yamatos logs, Chief Engineer La Forge recognizes that the probe carries a computer virus that led to the Yamatos destruction. He insists that they destroy the probe before the virus can be unleashed. However, a portion of the virus was stored in the Yamato logs and had infected the Enterprise. Although mostly contained, the virus still threatens to destroy the Enterprise in a matter of hours. Picard, Lt. Commander Data, and Lt. Worf beam to the source of the probe launch. While exploring the ruins, they find a teleportation portal that appears to allow for instantaneous interstellar travel to a different location that changes every few seconds. Among the destinations are the Enterprise and Haakona bridges. Data attempts to access the Iconian computer systems and becomes infected with the virus himself, but retains enough of his functions to instruct Picard on how to destroy the base. Meanwhile, in orbit, the Haakona decloaks in front of the Enterprise and threatens to attack, but soon appears to be suffering from similar system failures. The threat of attack, however, forces Commander Riker to raise the shields, which prevents them from retrieving the away team. Picard orders Worf to return with Data to the Enterprise using the Iconian gate, while he starts the destruct sequence. Before the entire structure explodes, and before the Enterprise could beam him out, Picard uses the gate to jump onto the Haakonas bridge, and discovers that their ship is set on an auto-destruct sequence they cannot stop due to the virus. On the Enterprise, Data's systems are nearly overtaken by the virus. His body automatically shuts down as a protective measure, and then restarts a short time later. La Forge finds Data's systems to now be completely free of the virus, and suggests a similar cold boot to clear the virus from the Enterprise. With the transporters back online, Picard is beamed off the Haakona, and Riker sends instructions to the Romulans on how to clear the virus. The Romulans successfully restart their computers, and both ships peacefully leave the Neutral Zone as the Iconian base can be seen destroying itself on the surface of the planet. Production Staff graphic designer Michael Okuda said of the plot, "I thought it was exciting,