“Ensign Ro”
Written by Rick Berman & Michael Piller
Directed by Les Landau
Season 5, Episode 3
Production episode 40275-203
Original air date: October 7, 1991
Stardate: 45076.3
Captain’s log: Picard’s haircut is interrupted by a distress call from the Solarion IV colony, which is proximate to Cardassian space. Bajoran terrorists (referred to in this episode as “the Bajora”) claim responsibility for the destruction of the colony, saying that there will be no peace in the sector until their homeland is restored to them.
The Enterprise brings the survivors of the attack to Lya Station Alpha, where Picard meets with Admiral Kennelly. The Cardassians annexed Bajor forty years earlier, and they’ve had issues with terrorist attacks by Bajorans that entire time—but they’ve never attacked Federation territory before. However, a militant splinter group, led by a man named Orta, has formed recently. Picard’s orders are to find Orta and bring him in—and all Picard is given to offer Orta is amnesty (which he won’t want) and a promise that the Federation will work quietly, behind the scenes, to deal with this (which he won’t be impressed by, given the generations of suffering of his people).
[Because...you’re innocent bystanders.]