Stardate 45587.3: An accident with a cargo container falling on his back leaves Worf paralyzed. Ashamed about being helpless and being a burden for everyone, Worf asks Commander Riker to help him with the hegh'bat, the Klingon ritual suicide. Riker is more than reluctant, even as Picard recommends that he should comply with Worf's wish. Beverly offers Worf neural implants that could at least partially restore his mobility, whereas Dr. Toby Russell has developed a highly experimental technique of a replicated spine that could heal him or kill him. The two doctors also clash over Russell's experimental treatment of a survivor of the USS Denver, which may have caused the death of the patient. Riker appears in sickbay wit a knife as requested, but he tells Worf that according to Klingon customs it would be up to his son Alexander to aid with the hegh'bat. Worf doesn't want to involve his son and finally agrees to Russell's surgery. He apparently dies during the procedure, but his highly redundant Klingon physiology brings him back to life.

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