Stardate 45571.2: Riker, Troi and Data are going to investigate an old-fashioned distress call from a moon of Mab-Bu VI, but their shuttle crashes. After O'Brien has beamed down to rescue them, all but the injured Riker start to behave strangely. After a failed attempt to take over the bridge, they take hostages in Ten Forward. Troi's, Data's and O'Brien's bodies have been taken over by entities who claim to be the spirits of the crew of the USS Essex that was lost at the moon over two hundred years ago. Their violent behavior, however, belies this story. The three are actually possessed by aliens who have been condemned to living in a penal colony. They finally coerce Picard into beaming up the remaining criminals. But Picard threatens to blow them all, including his three officers and himself, out of the airlock, whereupon the entities leave their host bodies and return to their prison.

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