“Preemptive Strike” is episode twenty-four of season seven of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
The Enterprise is heading for a briefing on the DMZ on the Cardassian border and Ro Laren has returned as a lieutenant after the advanced tactical course. There’s a gathering in Ten Forward for her and Geordi, Dr Crusher and Troi are talking to her as Captain Picard leaves. He then calls for Ro to come to the bridge. Except he’s in the corridor outside; he could see she was overwhelmed. She really appreciates him recommending her for the course; he wouldn’t have recommended her if he didn’t think she could do it. Then Riker contacts them from the bridge.
They’ve received a distress call from a Cardassian ship near the DMZ. It’s under attack by a number of small ships with no ID codes and Federation signatures. They turn out to be Maquis, and refuse to respond to hails. Firing a torpedo spread between them and the Cardassians drives them away.
The Cardassians are being treated in sickbay and Captain Picard speaks to Gul Evek. Evek is grateful but surprised the Enterprise came, given that Starfleet is looking away when the Maquis attack. Picard says they are doing everything to control the Maquis; Evek says they’re having limited success, given that civilians have acquired military weapons. The captain also throws Evek’s words back at him, but Evek says if matters escalate, the Cardassian military will take matters into their own hands.
Captain Picard meets with Admiral Necheyev, who mentions that they caught the Cardassians supplying weapons to their own colonies, in the DS9 episodes, “The Maquis”. The Maquis are moving beyond self-defence and they need to be stopped, but first they need to be found. The captain suggests an undercover operation. Which is exactly what they were thinking. They have someone in mind.
The captain tells Ro about this and that the mission will begin immediately. She mentions that one of her instructors on the tactical course, a lieutenant commander, was sympathetic to the Maquis and resigned to join them (this is apparently Voyager‘s Chakotay). The captain admits sympathy, but if the Maquis aren’t stopped, they could incite a war that could kill hundreds of thousands. Two years ago, Starfleet would never have tapped Ro for this. She thinks one good reason is to validate Captain Picard’s faither in her.
Ro is in a bar and starts making out with a customer when Worf and Data come in, looking for her as she killed a Cardassian soldier. Another customer claims they just missed her. Afterwards, Ro thanks him, then gets stunned.
She comes around with that man, an older one and a woman. They question if she did kill a Cardassian soldier and want to know her history. The one she gives is almost entirely truthful. She outright asks if they’re Maquis and says she’d join if they were. The older man, Macais, says he’ll stay and watch Ro whilst the other two check out her story.
Watching her involves putting his gun down and going for a stroll together. She asks what would happen if her story doesn’t check out. They’d have a problem. It’s verified, though.
Though Ro has been sent undercover to infiltrate the Maquis, given everything that’s happened to her at the hands of the Cardassians, this doesn’t seem like the brightest idea anyone has had. Especially as she starts bonding with Macais.