Lower Decks

"Lower Decks"
Star Trek: The Next Generation episode
Episode no.	Season 7 Episode 15
Directed by	Gabrielle Beaumont
Teleplay by	René Echevarria
Story by	Ronald Wilkerson Jean Louise Matthias
Featured music	Jay Chattaway
Production code	267
Original air date	February 7, 1994 (1994-02-07)
Guest actors
Dan Gauthier - Sam Lavelle Shannon Fill - Sito Jaxa Alexander Enberg - Taurik Bruce Beatty - Ben Patti Yasutake - Alyssa Ogawa Don Reilly - Joret Dal

"Lower Decks" is the 167th episode of the science fiction television series Star Trek: The Next Generation. The 15th episode of the seventh season.

While enduring the Enterprise's promotion evaluation process, four junior officers find themselves involved in a top-secret mission.

Plot

Four young Enterprise junior officers find their friendship strained during personnel evaluations. Two of the friends, Sam Lavelle and a young Bajoran woman named Sito Jaxa, discover that they are being considered for the same job. Joined by their friend Ben, a civilian who works as a waiter, they learn that promotions seem to be already decided on for their other two friends, Nurse Ogawa and the young Vulcan engineer Taurik.

Worf soon detects an escape pod inside Cardassian space, which is off limits to the Enterprise, and Geordi and Taurik work to transport the passenger on board amidst a cloak of secrecy.

Ogawa seems to be doing nicely in the evaluations as Beverly Crusher has nothing but praise for her abilities and accomplishments. She orders Ogawa not to reveal what she is about to see in Sickbay, and Dr. Crusher takes her to where an injured Cardassian has been brought on board.

Meanwhile, Commander Riker and Worf differ on whether Lavelle or Sito should be promoted. Captain Picard chastises Sito for her role in a Starfleet Academy scandal (involving an attempt to cover up an illegal flight maneuver gone bad, as depicted in the earlier episode "The First Duty"). She leaves the meeting exasperated, as Picard seems to have left her without having had the opportunity to defend herself.

Considerations of promotions are interrupted by a baffling secret mission that all but Lavelle are involved in. Left out of the loop, Lavelle becomes convinced that this is a sign that he will not be promoted. After teaching a class, Worf tells Sito to stay and that he wants to test her. He blindfolds her and engages her in a one-on-one martial arts fight. Sito is powerless to stop Worf's attacks, adding insult to her already bruised self-esteem, but finally stands up to him, saying it's an unfair test. Worf admits that getting her to stand up for herself when she is being judged unfairly is what he intended all along. She uses this newfound confidence to confront Picard about his earlier interrogation of her. Picard, to Sito's surprise, admits that the purpose of his earlier treatment of her was to assess her personal growth, along with her readiness for a dangerous secret mission where she will pose as a Bajoran captive taken by a Cardassian named Joret Dal. Joret is actually a Federation operative, and he needs to get back to Cardassia. The plan is for Joret and Sito to enter Cardassian space in a "stolen" Starfleet shuttle craft that has been made to look like it was damaged from phaser fire during an escape. At the first opportunity, Joret will launch Sito back to Federation space in an escape pod. Acknowledging the risks, Sito accepts the mission and leaves to prepare.

Sito's escape pod does not return from the mission, so after waiting 32 hours, Picard orders a probe to be launched into Cardassian space, despite being warned that doing so could be considered a treaty violation. The probe detects scattered debris that appears to be the remnants of a Starfleet shuttle escape pod. The Enterprise later intercepts Cardassian communications which report that a Bajoran prisoner overpowered her Cardassian captor and attempted to leave Cardassian space in an escape pod, which was then destroyed, leaving no survivors.

Captain Picard announces the loss of a fellow crew member over the ship's general address. Lavelle receives the promotion, but he and his friends, as well as the senior crew, are downhearted. They comfort each other, and Worf joins them as the episode concludes. Even the emotionally distant Worf has been affected by the loss they all feel.

Legacy

This episode has proved influential on later television writers. In his "Production Notes: Doodles in the Margins of Time" in 2007, Doctor Who executive producer Russell T Davies cites "Lower Decks" along with the Buffy: The Vampire Slayer episode "The Zeppo" as an influence on his 2006 Doctor Who episode "Love & Monsters". The episode provided a television format which came to be known as the "Doctor-lite episode", an annual tradition for Doctor Who since 2006.

See also

• The First Duty, the fifth season episode introducing the character Sito Jaxa as a member of Nova Squadron.

References

• Star Trek The Next Generation DVD set, volume 7, disc 4, selection 3.

External links

• "Lower Decks" at IMDb
• "Lower Decks" at TV.com
• Lower Decks at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)
• Lower Decks at StarTrek.com