“Night Terrors” is episode seventeen of season four of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
The Enterprise has located the USS Brattain, a science vessel that failed to arrive its destination and which has not been heard from since a distress call 29 days ago, in a binary star system. The ship is intact, and lifeform readings are inconclusive. Troi says she can detect something alive onboard. She also says she needs to beam across with the away team.
Riker, Dr Crusher, Worf, Data and Troi arrive on the Brattain. The captain is dead in the command chair, stabbed in the chest. All the bridge crew is dead, from one source or another. Troi can detect someone still alive and leads them to him. She thinks he’s Betazoid. Troi asks him who did this and says they are going to help.
In sickbay, Dr Crusher tells the captain that they’ve almost finished the autopsies. Dead were found all over the ship, locked and barricaded in their rooms with weapons or dead from hand-to-hand combat in the corridors. The only survivor is Andrus Hagan, the Betazoid. Hagan was the scientific advisor and he’s in a profound catatonic state. Troi isn’t getting much from him.
On the Brattain, Geordi tells Riker the engines are perfect; they should be able to take the ship back under its own power. However, the engines don’t work when started, even though there is nothing wrong.
Dr Crusher reports to Captain Picard in his ready room on the autopsies. All 34 crew of the Brattain killed each other and there were no unusual substances in their systems. All appeared to be in good health, but they turned on each other. The condition of the Brattain‘s captain deteriorated steadily after they were stranded. Her last entry, after they were adrift for over three weeks, shows a captain who is paranoid and falling apart.
Troi sees two lights amongst green fog. She’s floating and a voice is saying ‘Eyes in the dark. One moon circles.’ She wakes.
After four days of little progress on the mystery, the Brattain is being rigged for towing. Geordi can’t see why the engines don’t work. The ensign with him hears noises, then apologises.
O’Brien is in his quarters when Keiko arrives home. He’s annoyed she’s late and seems to suspect her of cheating. His behaviour is out of character to say the least. O’Brien heads to Ten Forward and speaks to an engineer, Gillespie, who says there are reports of strange things happening on the ship.
The captain is in his ready room when the door chime goes. He tells whoever is there to enter. No-one does. The chime goes several times and finally he goes to check. There’s no-one there. He sits down again and the door chimes several more times. Then someone knocks. Dr Crusher and Troi are there. They’re concerned what happened on the Brattain may be starting on the Enterprise. They’ve been getting reports of people acting strangely, hearing sounds that are not there. Hallucinations and erratic behaviour. The doctor says they have to leave before it gets any worse. Captain Picard says they will be towing the Brattain in an hour.
As they get ready to tow, the ensign on the helm can’t remember how to enter the coordinates. Then engines don’t work. They are adrift. Just like the Brattain.
Ten days later, a distress call has been sent but a response isn’t expected for another two weeks. Data is briefing the senior staff; they are trapped in a massive rupture in space where energy is absorbed. The captain says it’s a Tyken’s Rift. Worf arrives late. Data explains that Tyken, the captain trapped in one, theorised that a massive energy release might overload and dislocate the anomaly. Which it did. He had something explosive onboard. The Enterprise doesn’t have anything powerful enough, nor do they have enough energy to replicate such now. Dr Crusher asks if Tyken’s ship experienced unusual behaviour. It did not.
With them stuck, everyone is getting worse. Captain Picard sees the turbolift roof collapsing on him. Riker sees snakes in his bed. And Dr Crusher has what is possibly the creepiest hallucination of all. Even though you know it’s coming, when it’s coming and why it’s coming, it’s still unsettling to watch. Eventually, the crew of the Enterprise will go the same way as that of the Brattain if they don’t find a way out.