Stardate 44474.5: Chaos rules on Ventax II, as the head of state, Acost Jared, is about to hand over his planet to a woman called Ardra. According to an old legend, Ardra, the resident version of the devil, promised the Ventaxians one thousand years of peace, in exchange for their enslavement at the end of those one thousand years. Now Ardra has apparently returned to demand the fulfillment of the old treaty, and she scares the Ventaxians with her magic, such as earthquakes. Ardra even claims ownership of the Enterprise, based on a clause that everything in orbit belongs to the planet. Data finds a precedent in Ventaxian history of a dispute with a Klingon that was resolved by arbitration. Picard now demands an arbitration, in the course of which he strives to disprove Ardra's claim, as well as her supernatural powers. Geordi finally locates her cloaked ship and enables Picard to tap into its power systems, giving him the same power she had.

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