Sins of Commission (Book #29)

by Susan Wright

The Enterprise is asked to offer their assistant to the heavily polluted and dying planet, Lessenar. When they arrive in it's orbit, they are greeted by beautiful bands of energy, similar to the Earth's Borealis. But the formations are only the pollution poisoning the planet and everything on it, including it's people.
Not long after they arrive, the Enterprise is approached by the tourist ship, The Prospector, it's captain a long time family friend of Worf. When the ship has an explosion, the entire crew, and a group of Sli, a jellyfish-type creature, evacuate to the Enterprise. But almost immediately, the crew are battered by intense feelings. The Sli are the cause, upset because one of their own were killed in mysterious circumstances.
The Sli's 'manager', a Ferengi named, Mon Hartog insists that Picard interrogates not only the Prospector crew and guests, but the Enterprise crew too, especially when he finds there is a Klingon on board, knowing that Klingons despised the Sli for an earlier atrocity on the Klingon homeworld years before.
Meanwhile, Riker has been given the task of aiding and supplying the Lessenarians, and when he takes a shuttle to the planets' surface to survey the catastrophic damage caused by the pollution, he is devastated, and orders his scientific crew to start work immediately to find the cause and a cure, promising food and water to the dying people.
When an away team beam to the crippled Prospector, they discover that the explosion was caused by a bomb, and so the hunt is on for the saboteur.
Deanna Troi is trying her best to communicate with the extremely agitated Sli, but is at a loss. The entire crew, except Data are being affected in many different ways. Some very despondent, and some violent. A Romulan named Tarses, who had grown up believing he was a Vulcan seems to be suffering the most, his guilt giving several of the crew members suspicions.
Everything escalates when another Ferengi ship arrives with even more Sli aboard, insisting that Picard destroys the Sli on board the Enterprise because they are upsetting his Sli. Picard refuses.
Worf is put under suspicion when it is revealed that he personally knows Captain Walsh and that Walsh had a brother killed by the Sli many years before. It deepens still when logs show several communiques from Earth and the Klingon homeworld, and Worf's refusal to reveal the contents of the communications only fuels the suspicions further, until he finally confesses to Deanna that it is personal information concerning his son, Alexander.
Worf confronts Walsh about the allegations, and Walsh confesses to Picard that he inadvertently caused the explosion when he jettisoned trash illegally into Lessanar's space, adding to the planet's pollution. Further investigation reveals that the bomb was of Ferengi design, and confronted with the information, Mon Hartog and the captain of the other Ferengi ship have been using the Sli to drain Lessenar, so have been the cause of the pollution.
At the same time, Deanna solves the communication problem with the Sli, something that the Ferengi never mastered, and realizing that they have been beaten, leave the area, and everyone begins to return to their normal selves.

Notable Imzadi moment:

Page 151

The door chimed, startling her.
"Come in," she called. As she stood up, she realized what she was wearing. The robe was made of layers of sheer violet. She hoped it wasn't the captain. He'd be very uncomfortable finding her this way.
But it was Will Riker. His eyes quickly took in the robe, and Deanna drew in her breath with a slight trembling of her hands. It reminded her of so much-
"Purple," Riker said, but his voice was oddly flat. He paced into the room, frowning as he looked around. "You like that color, don't you?"
Deanna actually felt her face flush. The last time her mother had looked through Deanna's closet, she had teased her that most of her sensual outfits were violet. Lwaxana had been amused, but Deanna had been embarrassed.


 

Thank you Carol for putting this together =)