- The Enterprise stumbles upon a Dyson sphere, with a ship crashed on the outer surface. An away team finds some systems still powered up and the chief engineer from the old Enterprise, Montgomery Scott, locked in the transporter cycle.
- When the Enterprise locates the missing transport ship USS Jenolan, it's found to be stuck on a round object large enough to cause gravimetric disturbances, which fits the theory of a Dyson sphere, large enough to contain an entire star's powers. Riker's away team investigates the wrecked ship and finds a permanent diagnostic loop in the transporter buffer; Geordi guesses right this was the clever method to survive for 75 years used by two men, one of which has degraded, but the Enterprise's chief engineer from Kirk's days, Montgomery "Scotty" Scott, is alive and confident he still can be useful. After trying Geordi's patience with his ignorant questions and dangerous presumptions, Scotty feels ready to retire. However, the gravity has both ships locked to the sphere, the star inside is about to release a flare in hours which the shields can't survive, and Scotty, who literally wrote the impulse reactor's manual, can show Geordi the real tolerance margins...—KGF Vissers
- The Enterprise responds to a distress signal from the USS Jenolan, a Federation transport ship that was reported missing 75 years ago. It crashed - or was shot down - on the outside surface of a Dyson sphere, a spherical structure large enough to contain a sun and a myriad of planets. They find basic life support systems aboard the craft are still functioning but more interesting they find that someone is in the transporter system. It turns out to be Captain Montgomery "Scotty" Scott, who was a passenger aboard the vessel. Having been in a form of stasis for 75 years means Scotty is rather a fish out of water when it comes to his new time period, but his knowledge becomes invaluable when the Enterprise is drawn inside the sphere by a tractor beam.—garykmcd
- The Enterprise locates the missing transport ship USS Jenolan (from a distress signal). The ship was supposed to be missing for 75 years. It is found to be stuck on a round object large enough to cause Gravimetric disturbances, which fits the theory of a Dyson sphere, a body constructed around a star, large enough to contain an entire star's powers. And the inhabitants of the sphere to have limitless source of power and energy.
Riker's away team investigates the wrecked ship and finds a permanent diagnostic loop in the transporter buffer; Geordi guesses right this was the clever method to survive for 75 years used by two men, one of the patterns of which has degraded, but the Enterprise's chief engineer from Kirk's days, Montgomery "Scotty" Scott (James Doohan), is alive and confident he still can be useful.
Scotty says how the Jenolan approached the sector on a routine survey and found the Dyson Sphere, just as the Enterprise did. But their aft propulsion coils gave away during the survey and it crash landed on the surface, where it has been stuck for the last 75 years. After trying Geordi's patience with his ignorant questions and dangerous presumptions. Scotty didn't know that engines use multi-phase auto-containment now and almost blew up the engines. Also, Scotty didn't know that ships grow their crystals inside the Dilithium chambers, Scotty feels ready to retire. Geordi tells Scotty that he is just in the way, and he is offended.
Sensors indicate a G class star inside the sphere and a class M atmosphere. Capable of supporting life but giving no indication of life itself. Scotty admits to Picard that he does not belong on Picard's Enterprise and can't bring himself about to learn all the new technology now-a-days. Picard asks Geordi to take Scotty's help in accessing the memory banks of the Jenolan as they had already conducted a survey of the sphere before their crash. Geordi and Scotty beam onto the Jenolan.
Meanwhile the Enterprise checks out an airlock on the Dyson Sphere. Suddenly a tractor beam locks onto them and pulls them into the airlock, which opens. The ship loses all power as the tractor beam drains them of their power source. Once inside the sphere, the ship starts falling towards the star, as it still has forward momentum, and no way to stop it. Picard and Riker use the Thrusters to push the ship into a stable orbit around the star at 150K Kms. Scans reveal that the sphere is abandoned, and the star is extremely unstable. As the flares from the sun increase, the shields of the Enterprise will not be sufficient to protect within 3 hours.
Scotty and Geordi find the Enterprise missing from orbit and speculate that it has gone inside the sphere. Scotty and Geordi work together to bring the engines of the Jenolan back online. They also figure out the airlock through which the Enterprise was pulled inside the sphere. Scotty plans to trigger the airlock open by hailing at Enterprise frequencies, but from a distance so that the tractor beam can't latch to them. Also, when the lock tries to close, Scotty plans to jam them open with the Jenolan, giving the Enterprise a chance to escape. Geordi protests saying that the locks are huge and will crush the Jenolan, but Scotty assures him that the tolerances are built in and that the shields of the Jenolan will hold.
Jenolan executes the plan and hails the Enterprise when the lock is open. Enterprise escapes and beams Scotty and Geordi back on as it passes through. As a tribute, Picard gifts Scotty a shuttle from the Enterprise to get to Norbin. This is a planet that Scotty was headed to for his retirement, on the Jenolan, 75 years ago.
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