The Ultimate Vampire Resource and Directory

During a diplomatic mission, the USS Enterprise receives a communication that Lt. Commander Data has gone berserk during an observation mission on the Ba'ku homeworld. The peaceful Ba'ku, whose planet offers regenerative radiation, and therefore incredible lifespans, live in harmony with nature and reject any kind of technology. Their planet and their culture is being secretly studied by the Federation and the associated Son'a in a joint venture under the command of Admiral Matthew Dougherty in which Data was participating.

After capturing and fixing Data, the Enterprise crew find Dougherty eager for them to be on their way -- too eager to the crews liking. Suspecting something, they return to the Ba'ku village on the planet's surface to find out what caused Data to malfunction. They find a Federation ship which contains a holodeck reproduction of the Ba'ku village, apparently so the Ba'ku can be unwittingly relocated without their consent, and learn that Data had stumbled upon it previously and had been shot by one of the Son'a aboard, causing his malfunction. During the course of their investigations, odd effects occur -- Picard seems to grow slightly younger; Riker and Deanna become affectionate and seem on the verge of renewing a long-abandoned relationship; and Geordi's optic nerves begin to regenerate. Picard even becomes attracted to a Ba'ku named Anij, a forty-something-looking woman who claims to be ten times that age. Localized effects such as regeneration, anti-aging, and hormonal increases that at first affected the natives are now also affecting the crew that have been exposed to the planet's environment.


*Special Note*

Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave guitarist Tom Morello plays a Son'a warrior. Morello also appeared in the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Good Shepherd," as Crewman Mitchell.