The Survivors

TNG Season 3 Episode 3
Air Date: October 9th, 1989

Plot

The Enterprise responds to a distress call from the Federation colony on Delta Rana IV but when they arrive the colony is completely destroyed, save for one patch of life with two lifeforms on it.  Kevin and Rishon Uxbridge. Kevin asks the Enterprise away team to leave them alone, but two survivors of a colony of thousands required they stick around.

Kevin tells them that an alien came and attacked destroying everyone but him and his wife who refused to take up arms against the attackers. After the away team is back on the Enterprise, the aliens show back up and lead the Enterprise on a chase before Picard gives up. The next time they meet the aliens they are much more powerful causing the Enterprise to retreat. Picard is onto Kevin now realizing that it is all an illusion that he created.

In the final confrontation, we find out that Rishon didn't survive the attack, and that Kevin was a very powerful being and in a moment of weakness he destroyed the entire alien race. Everyone of them in the whole galaxy. As a non violent man he feels awful about this and given his abilities Picard decides he can't judge him and returns him to Delta Rana IV.

Commentary

When Picard finds out how powerful Kevin really is, he almost freezes up realizing that he is truely powerless to do anything and that he was lucky that Kevin is a peaceful man. He lets Kevin return to the surface probably more because he knows he can't stop it. I always wondered if Kevin was an exiled member of the Q.

Quotes

"Sir, may I say your attempt to hold the away team at bay with a non-functioning weapon was an act of unmitigated gall." - Worf
"Didn't fool you, huh?" - Kevin
"I admire gall." - Worf

"Well, what do you think, Mr. Worf?" - Rishon
"Good tea. Nice house." - Worf

"I saw her broken body. I went insane. My hatred exploded. And in an instant of grief... I destroyed the Husnock." - Kevin
"Why did you try to hide this from all of us? Was it out of guilt for not helping Rishon and the others when they were alive?" - Doctor Crusher
"No no no, you don't understand the scope of my crime. I didn't kill just one Husnock, or a hundred, or a thousand. I killed them all. All Husnock, everywhere. Are 11,000 people worth 50 billion? Is the love of a woman worth the destruction of an entire species?" - Kevin
"We're not qualified to be your judges. We have no law to fit your crime. You're free to return to the planet. And to make Rishon live again." - Picard

"Captain's log, stardate 43153.7 - We are departing the Rana system for Starbase 1-3-3. We leave behind a being of extraordinary power and conscience. I'm not certain if he should be praised or condemned. Only that he should be left alone." - Picard