The crew quickly confirms the identity of the ship: it’s the Enterprise C, the predecessor to the Enterprise D! This is pretty much the coolest thing that happens in seven years of TNG episodes, so take a moment to savour it. There we go. Now it’s over. Still, you’ve got that episode where Crusher falls in love with a candle to look forward to.

After confirming that it is indeed the ship that was thought destroyed over twenty years ago, the Enteprise D crew goes to rescue the survivors of the heavily-damaged Enterprise C. They find only two senior officers left alive: Captain Rachel Garrett and Lt. Richard Castillo. Everyone’s a bit weirded out and not entirely sure what to do with the new spare Enterprise when Guinan barges onto the bridge and pulls Picard aside for a word.

In a private meeting with Picard, Guinan attempts to explain that she has a feeling that “everything is wrong”, but struggles to offer any actual evidence of explanation of her hunch. Nevertheless, he listens to her suggestion to send the Enterprise C back through the time hole.

In sickbay, an injured Garrett wakes up and explains that the Enterprise C was being attacked by four Romulan warbirds while defending a Klingon outpost. If they go back, it’ll be to certain death. While she wrestles with this, Yar and Castillo start making doe eyes at one another, united by their love of… well, it’s not really clear, they’re just super into each other.

Guinan comes back to Picard to check that he actually heard her advice, and they have a big argument about which timeline is the “real” one. Who’s to say that the current universe is any less valid than the other one, Picard asks. “Me” says Guinan. He’s probably wishing Q had been more specific about her weird powers right about now. Assuming there’s a Q in this timeline. Even though Picard is upset that 125 people will die, Guinan points out that the war has so far killed 40 billion, which makes it even less likely that the regular gang would end up on the Enterprise.