“The Chase” is episode twenty of season six of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
The Enterprise is on a three-week mission studying a stellar nursery when Commander Riker calls Captain Picard to the observation lounge. The lounge is dark but there’s something on the table. The captain recognises it and a man asks if he can identify it.
The man is the captain’s old archaeology teacher, Professor Galen; Riker says he contacted them from a shuttle an hour ago and wanted to surprise him. The object is a Kurlan naiskos and the captain is gushing over it and explaining to Riker. It’s 12,000 years old. Kurlan is a long way outside Federation territory but the professor says he happened to be in the neighbourhood last year. It’s a gift for the captain. Picard asks how he can accept this. Graciously, according to Galen. Galen is leaving on an expedition in two days and wants the captain to come with.
In Ten Forward, the captain says that for the past decade the professor has not published many papers nor attended many conferences. Galen talks about a discovery he made through micropaleontology; until he finishes, silence seems the wisest course. When Galen announces his findings, they will be heard halfway across the galaxy. He can’t discuss it in any more detail unless the captain joins him. It will take at least three months, maybe a year, though with diplomatic access and a starship, a matter of weeks. He’s not young and wants the captain along so the chances of completion or not jeopardised. Picard is tempted, but has responsibilities, and wants to sleep on it.
Dr Crusher arrives at the captain’s quarters for their breakfast. She wants him to discuss what he’s been thinking of. The captain explains, and explains what Galen means to him, and that he turned him down in the past. He wishes he didn’t have to do so a second time. When the captain declines the offer, Galen does not take it well and storms off, leaving the ship.
With the survey complete, the Enterprise is heading to a peace conference. Troi wants the captain to join her for a walk when Worf reports a distress call from Professor Galen’s shuttle. The professor can only say he’s being boarded when the transmission is blocked. The Enterprise heads there to find the shuttle in the grip of a Yridian destroyer. Which is accidentally blown up instead of disabled. Professor Galen is beamed to sickbay but the doctor says he took a disruptor hit to the chest. There’s nothing she can do. The professor says he was too harsh to the captain before he dies.
Geordi reports to the captain that the Yridians were downloading something from the shuttle’s computer and Data says the professor had started to protect his files. Geordi has recovered 19 blocks of numbers but he doesn’t know what they mean. Data says they need to narrow their parameters. The Yridians got some information and they were maybe selling it on, but there were no signs of transmissions. The logs show where Galen has been, which is four days away at warp 6.
This is an M-class planet with no signs of ever having a civilisation. Prior to that, the professor visited an L-class, Indri VIII, with no signs of civilisation, not even animal life. The captain orders Enterprise there. In his ready room, he’s staring at the numbers with no joy when Troi enters to check up on him. She’s concerned the captain is doing this out of guilt and they are needed at the peace conference. The captain says that this isn’t to purge guilt or remorse, but to ensure the professor’s death was not in vain. He will take full responsibility for any consequences.
Indri VIII when they arrive is undergoing an unstoppable plasma reaction in its lower atmosphere. All life is destroyed. Someone got there first and killed everything to hide what they found.
Professor Galen clearly found something of interest and it’s just as clear that other parties are also interested in finding out what it was. Which makes it a race to discover what the professor had found.