Star Trek The Next Generation: "The Pegasus"

"The Pegasus" is one of my all-time favorite episodes of TNG.

When the Enterprise is ordered to rendezvous with another starship to receive an expert from Starfleet Security, Commander Riker is stunned to discover that the expert is Admiral Eric Pressman, his first commanding officer. Fifteen years earlier, when Riker was an ensign serving on the U.S.S. Pegasus, Pressman, who was the captain, was conducting secret experiments in cloaking technology; he was building a cloak so sophisticated that it would allow a starship, in addition to being invisible to sensors or the naked eye, to pass through matter. Pressman's crew found out what he was doing and did the unthinkable: they mutinied.

When they did, Ensign Riker grabbed a phaser and defended his captain. Thereafter, he and the mutineers felt a need to get off the ship, so they ran to the escape pods and left. They watched as Pegasus exploded in what appeared to be a warp core breach.

In the episode of TNG, 15 years later, we learn that the Pegasus was not actually destroyed; it was instead cloaked. The ship drifted into an asteroid, where it was found by Picard's crew to be partially materialized inside solid rock. Pressman tells Riker that he is on a secret mission to start up the experiments again.

Under orders from Admiral Pressman not to reveal to anyone--including Captain Picard--the true nature of his mission, Riker is faced with a real dilemma. Does he stand by the choice he made 15 years earlier and defend his former captain who is breaking federation law by designing and testing a cloaking device? Or does he stand on the side of the law? Does he blindly follow orders, respecting the chain of command? Or does he question Admiral Pressman and do what he thinks is right? Does he tell Picard what happened 15 years earlier, or continue living a lie?

Commander Riker makes a different choice than Ensign Riker made. When the time comes, Commander Riker tells Captain Picard the truth--a truth he has hidden for fifteen years. He reveals the true story not in the confines of the Ready Room but on the bridge of the flagship of the federation; he brings the truth to light in the public eye.

Interestingly, as an aside, this episode is the setting for the series finale of Star Trek: Enterprise. Riker's decision in "The Pegasus" is the decision that the crew of the original Enterprise, through a holodeck program, help him to resolve.

What can we learn from all of this?

There is no shame in looking back on life, retrospectively deciding that one made a fundamentally incorrect decision, and acting to correct the error. In fact, nothing could be braver.

We can all change is most important to us. Our sense of morality can evolve to encompass more than we once thought. As we get older--as we experience more--our morals do not necessarily change, but they often become deeper. Our principles can become more important to us.

That's the lesson of this episode, and that's exactly what Commander Riker did.