Star Trek: The Next Generation (TV Series)

Symbiosis (1988)

Denise Crosby: Lieutenant Natasha 'Tasha' Yar

Photos 

Quotes 

• Wesley Crusher : Data, I can understand how this might happen to the Ornarans. What I can't understand is this: Why would anyone *voluntarily* become dependent on a chemical?

  Lt. Commander Data : Voluntary addiction to drugs is a recurrent theme in many cultures. Regrettably, having had no firsthand experience with such dependency, chances are I cannot give you an appropriate response.

  Wesley Crusher : That's all right, Data.

  Lieutenant Tasha Yar : [jumping in]  I believe I can, Wesley. In the first place, nobody *wants* to become dependent. That happens later.

  Wesley Crusher : Still, if people *know* it happens, why do they even start?

  Lieutenant Tasha Yar : Remember what I told you about life on my home planet? There was so much poverty and violence that, for some, the closest thing to an escape was through drugs.

  Wesley Crusher : How does a chemical substance provide an escape?

  Lieutenant Tasha Yar : In the real sense, it can't... but it makes you think it's doing so. You have to understand that drugs - can make you feel good. They put you on top of the world. You're happy, sure of yourself, in control...

  Wesley Crusher : What's the point, though, if you know it's artificial?

  Lieutenant Tasha Yar : Because it doesn't *seem* artificial until after the drug wears off. Then comes what they call a "crash". You feel just the opposite of the way you did earlier: sad, insecure, like everything's coming down on you and there's nothing that can be done about it.

  Wesley Crusher : [DELETED LINE]  Doesn't *that* wear off, too?

  Lieutenant Tasha Yar : [DELETED LINE]  Ultimately, yes - but the trouble is that a lot of people can't wait for "ultimately". It's got nothing to do with common sense; they simply don't have enough willpower to ride out the crash. So they take more of the drug to cope, to feel the way they did before. The problem with doing that is, your body adapts to the drug as you keep taking it.

  Wesley Crusher : [DELETED LINE; doing the math]  ... Meaning you'd need larger and more frequent dosages to get the results you wanted, wouldn't you?

  Lieutenant Tasha Yar : Indeed. On the other hand, using more of the drug more often also leaves you feeling worse - and for longer - after it wears off. That's how you get trapped. Before you know it, you're taking the drug... not to feel good, but to *keep* from feeling *bad*. At that point, all you care about is getting your next dosage. Nothing else matters.

  Wesley Crusher : I see how it all works, Tasha, but I'm still not sure I understand it. Sorry.

  Lieutenant Tasha Yar : Wesley. Don't be. In fact, let's hope for your sake you never do.

• Lieutenant Tasha Yar : [on the Ornaran's and Brekkian's natural defensive powers]  A natural electrical charge?

  Commander William T. Riker : Formidable.

  Lieutenant Tasha Yar : Yes. And a difficult weapon to confiscate.

• Lieutenant Tasha Yar : Behave yourselves, gentlemen.

  [after separating the fighting Sobi and T'Jon with a phaser] 

• Lieutenant Tasha Yar : [the crew are trying to rescue a freighter from burning up in a planet's atmosphere]  Captain, the tractor beam is available... if you want it?

  Commander William T. Riker : At least we could pull them out of orbit before they enter the atmosphere.

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : [to the viewscreen]  Freighter, we're going to lock on the tractor beam and pull you out of orbit.

  T'Jon : Hey, that... that's great.

  [Picard can't quite hide his bemusement with Captain T'Jon's cavalier attitude in this crisis situation] 

  Lt. Worf : [the Enterprise tractor beam tries and fails to grab onto the freighter]  Captain, the freighter's orbit continues to deteriorate.

  Lieutenant Tasha Yar : The solar flares are interfering with the tractor beam, Captain. I can't lock on.

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : Captain T'Jon, we are unable to attach the tractor beam because of the intense solar activity.

  T'Jon : [disinterested as ever]  I understand. Thanks for trying.