Stardate 46731.5: Picard turns down the tempting offer of his old archeology professor, Richard Galen, to accompany him on a quest that could have an impact on the whole galaxy. Galen leaves, only to be deadly injured after an Yridian attack. Picard traces Galen's journey, and he finds a puzzle composed of DNA fragments Galen has been collecting from various planets in the galaxy. There is something like a coded message in these fragments. Not only the Enterprise, but also Cardassians, Klingons and eventually Romulans are seeking for the missing fragments to decode the message, which could be the plan for a weapon or something equally powerful or valuable. When finally the different parties meet on a desert planet and struggle for the possession of the code, Picard and Crusher feed a tricorder with the last fragment, which they find in the ground of this long-dead planet, and a message is replayed. A humanoid appears and declares that their race was the first to emerge in the galaxy. They found themselves alone, but they preserved their legacy by spreading DNA fragments on many planets, to trigger a development that would finally lead to the formation of humanoids just like them. In a way, Klingons, Cardassians, Romulans and humans are all related to each other. The message of peace, however, isn't received very well by the various species. Only the remark by the Romulan commander who was obviously impressed and is looking forward to future common missions is a sign of hope.

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