with the Rutian government and launches an attack on the Enterprise, despite Crusher's requests to avoid harming her son. The Ansata manage to plant a bomb on the Enterprise warp engine. It is quickly transported into space by La Forge, 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 come to Counselor Troi on the Enterprise and demand the Federation become involved in mediating the dispute, returning to the planet before security 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. It is her conclusion that if Finn remained alive, his imprisonment would spark more resistance, while being killed in battle will only elevate him to martyr status and reduce the violence in the short-term. When a young Ansata member attempts to exact revenge on Picard, 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. United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland broadcast In his study of instances when terrorism has worked, Data notes that Ireland was unified in 2024. As a result, this episode was not originally shown by the BBC in the United Kingdom, which had previously been attacked by the Provisional Irish Republican Army, due to the conflict in Northern Ireland ongoing at the time known as the Troubles, over remaining within the United Kingdom. It was not broadcast in the Republic of Ireland by the Star Trek rights' holder, RTÉ, during the show's run though UK broadcasts were received there. Initial UK airings were edited and shown for the first time on the satellite channel Sky One on November 29, 1992. The episode was broadcast unedited in May 2006 on Sky One and finally shown unedited on BBC Two during the third season's repeats after midnight on September 29, 2007. Releases The episode was released with Star Trek: The Next Generation season three