TREKCORE > MOVIES > STAR TREK: GENERATIONS > Synopsis

Having retired following the Khitomer conference, Captain James T. Kirk swore he'd never set foot on another starship again, but when the new Excelsior-class U.S.S. Enterprise prepares for launch, Kirk cannot turn down the invitation to accompany the vessel on her maiden voyage, but when the starship receives a distress call, an ill-prepared Captain John Harriman has no choice but to mount a rescue. The Enterprise finds two El Aurian ships trapped in a massive energy ribbon, unable to break free. One of the ships explodes. Not sure what to do, Harriman turns to Kirk for help, who quickly springs into action. Kirk orders the ship is close within transporter range, but gets trapped in the tailing edge of the ribbon and becomes ensnared. The second ship explodes, but not before Scotty is able to rescue forty-seven passengers. With no medical staff aboard, Commander Chekov and two journalists take charge of sick-bay, where an injured man claims he "needs to go back." Presumed hysterical, Chekov quickly sedates the man and tends to another El Aurian woman who wears a strange hat. With seemingly no way to escape the ribbon, Scotty theorizes that a photon torpedo blast at the ribbon might disrupt the field long enough for the Enterprise to escape. Preparing to fire, Kirk is informed the ship has no torpedoes. With no other options, he races to deflector control on deck 15 to modify the dish to send out a resonance pulse. Kirk is successful and the Enterprise begins to escape, but not before the ribbon lashes out a tendril of energy at the dish, tearing a large portion of hull off. The ship is able to escape, but a hull breach has been suffered on deck 15. Racing to that level, Scotty, Harriman and Chekov are horrified to find the room and Captain Kirk are gone.

Seventy-eight years later, Lieutenant Worf is promoted to lieutenant commander aboard a holodeck recreation of the wooden frigate Enterprise. As the celebration commences, Captain Jean-Luc Picard receives a disheartening message from Earth; his family house has burned down, killing his brother and nephew. Before Picard can grieve, the Enterprise-D receives a distress call from the Armagosa Observatory under attack from the Romulans. Beaming aboard the observatory, Commander Riker and Worf find a survivor, the El Aurian man, Dr. Tolian Soran who had been rescued by the Enterprise-B years prior.

Meanwhile, attempting to grasp the concept of humour, Lieutenant Commander Data installs his emotion chip for the first time and quickly enjoys the nuance of feeling, but the chip soon proves to be too much for the android, as it overwhelms his positronic relay and becomes fused into his neural net. The damage is irreparable and the chip cannot be removed. However, before Data can fully understand his plight, the Armagosa star suddenly explodes. A Klingon bird of prey decloaks and transports Dr. Soran away, taking Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge hostage with him.

Uncovering the truth about Soran, Dr. Beverly Crusher discovers that the ship's bartender, Guinan, had travelled with Soran aboard the ship that was rescued by the Enterprise-B. Unsure of Soran's plans, Picard assumes that Soran is attempting to make a weapon, but Guinan tells him Soran doesn't care about weapons or power, but rather returning to The Nexus; the energy ribbon that destroyed the ship. Guinan tells Picard that the ribbon is a doorway to another reality where one experiences nothing but joy, and warns that if Soran is still obsessed with returning there, he can be a very dangerous man. She also warns that if Picard were to venture into The Nexus, he, like Soran, wouldn't care about anything else and wouldn't want to leave it.

In the ship's stellar cartography lab, Data and Picard are able to plot the course of the ribbon, are learns that the destruction of the Armagosa star affected its course. Realizing that, Picard deduces that Soran plans to also destroy the Veridian star which would ultimately allow him to be swept into The Nexus. Unfortunately, the Veridian star system supports a humanoid society of hundreds of millions. Determined to stop Soran, Picard takes the Enterprise to Veridian III, where they encounter the Klingon ship, commanded by Lursa and B'etor, the Duras sisters. Willing to trade his life for Geordi's freedom, Picard agrees to be their prisoner if he can first speak to Soran. The sisters agree; Geordi is returned to the Enterprise and Picard is transported to Soran's missile launch site.

Unable to verbally convince Soran to abort his plan, Picard realizes he must physically stop Soran. Meanwhile, in orbit, the sisters use a surveillance camera implanted in Geordi's VISOR to spy on the Enterprise. When Geordi briefly glances at a computer panel revealing the ship's shield frequency, Lursa and B'etor are able to modify their weapons to the same frequency, allowing them to pass through the shields and strike the hull. They open fire on the Enterprise, causing severe damage. Data realizes that a defective plasma coil in the Klingon ship's design would be susceptible to an ionic pulse, which would activate their cloaking device and drop their shields. The pulse is sent, cloaking the Klingon ship, allowing the Enterprise to destroy Lursa and B'etor.

The damage taken is severe, to the point that it causes a coolant leak in the warp core which will destroy the ship. Riker orders the crew to evacuate to the saucer section and tells Data to separate the ship. The saucer module breaks away, steering as quickly away from the impending warp core breach as possible, but the explosion occurs prematurely, destroying the battle section and crippling the saucer. With the remaining segment of the ship out of control, it plummets into the atmosphere of the planet. Using what little power is left, Data is able to activate the lateral thrusters and level the descent. The ship impacts on the surface, dragging through the foliage of the Veridian jungle.

Oblivious to the destruction of his ship, Picard is able to confront Soran, but the doctor proves to be too much for the captain. Soran's missile is launched and the Veridian star is destroyed. The Nexus Ribbon sweeps Soran away, but also snags Picard. As the ribbon leaves the planet, the shockwave from the dead star impacts the planet, destroying the Enterprise saucer and killing the entire crew.

When Picard regains awareness, he finds himself surrounded by children and a wife, celebrating Christmas. Seemingly normal, Picard notices a shockwave like effect shimmering on an ornament and realizes where he is can't be real, but an image of Guinan appears to him and tells him that it's as real as he wants to be. Finding himself in The Nexus, he realizes he has everything he wants; a home, a family, everything he didn't have in Starfleet. Faced with a choice of remaining in The Nexus with everything he ever wants or returning to the real world to save the people of Veridian IV, Picard chooses the latter, but realizes he can't defeat Soran alone. The image of Guinan tells him there's someone else in The Nexus who might be able to help him.

Transported to a mountain cabin, Picard finds Captain Kirk chopping wood. Before Picard can explain the situation, Kirk goes inside the house and realizes that everything he ever had is once again his: his house, his dog and the love of his life, Antonia. Picard informs Kirk that history records he died saving the Enterprise-B eighty years earlier, but reiterates that this is not in fact correct as history believes, rather, Kirk has been in The Nexus for the past eighty years. Picard asks for Kirk's help, but the captain would rather remain in The Nexus and relive his life a different way.

Going horseback riding, Kirk jumps a perilous gap, only to realize that, while the real jump always scared him, this one doesn't because it isn't real; nothing in The Nexus is real. Kirk laments that maybe he shouldn't have retired from Starfleet because on the bridge of the Enterprise is where he always made a difference. Picard urges him to come back to the 24th century with him to defeat Soran and Kirk agrees.

Transported back just moments before the launch of Soran's missile, Kirk and Picard are able to thwart Soran's efforts. Picard sets the missile to self-destruct. The explosion takes Soran with it. With the people of Veridian IV saved, there is but one casualty; Captain Kirk. Suffering massive internal injuries from a fall from a metallic bridge, Kirk wonders if he and Picard had made a difference, to which Picard responds with a resounding yes. Kirk claims it was the least he could do for the captain of the Enterpris, and silently dies.

Burying Kirk on a mountaintop, Picard is picked up by an Enterprise shuttlecraft. Returning to the Enterprise, he learns of his ship's fate. After all the loss he has suffered in recent days; that of his home in France, his brother, his nephew, and his ship, Picard grieves not, for he has learned that one must cherish every moment because they'll never come again. As Riker laments about not getting to command the Enterprise, Picard reassures him that there will be another U.S.S. Enterprise one day.

Written exclusively for TrekCore by Kyle C. Haight