Star Trek: The Next Generation (TV Series)

The Defector (1990)

Patrick Stewart: Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Michael Williams

Photos 

Quotes 

• [Picard's secret backup of cloaked Klingon warbirds has materialized surrounding the Romulans] 

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : What shall it be, Tomalak?

  Commander Tomalak : You will still not survive our assault.

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : And you will not survive ours. Shall we die together?

• [last lines] 

  [Admiral Jarok has committed suicide] 

  Commander William T. Riker : [handing a data PADD to Picard]  A letter to his wife and daughter.

  Lt. Commander Data : Sir, he must have known it would be impossible for us to deliver it.

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : Today, perhaps. But if there are others with the courage of Admiral Jarok, we may hope to see a day of peace when... we can take his letter home.

• Captain Jean-Luc Picard : On what basis, Admiral, am I to decide? Hmm? Your good word? Are you willing to help us overpower the Romulan B-type warbirds we may encounter? Are you prepared to help us detect them through their cloaking shields?

  [the Admiral doesn't reply] 

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : Well, you see my problem, Admiral. You ask us for faith, in circumstances which are hardly possible to believe, compounded by lies and your refusal to tell us what you know.

  Admiral Jarok : I cannot betray my people!

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : You already betrayed your people, Admiral! You've made your choices, sir! You're a traitor! Now, if the bitter taste of that is unpalatable to you, I am truly sorry. But I will not risk my crew because you think you can dance on the edge of the Neutral Zone. You've crossed over, Admiral. You make yourself comfortable with that.

• Admiral Jarok : Do you... have any children, Captain Picard, a family?

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : No.

  Admiral Jarok : Hmm... Then you have sacrificed too much for your career.

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : Yes, this is all very interesting...

  [Jarok raises a hand to silence him] 

  Admiral Jarok : There comes a time in a man's life that you cannot know. When he looks down at the first smile of his baby girl and realizes, he must change the world for her - for all children. It is for her that I am here. Not to destroy the Romulan Empire, but to save it. For months, I tried desperately to persuade the High Command that another war would destroy the Empire. They got tired of my arguments. Finally, I was censured, sent off to command some distant sector. *This* was my only recourse. I... will never see my child smile again. She will grow up believing that her father is a traitor. But she will grow up - if you act, Picard. If we stop this war before it begins.

• Captain Jean-Luc Picard : [quoting Shakespeare's "Henry V"]  Now, if these men do not die well, it will be a black matter for the king, who led them to it.

• Captain Jean-Luc Picard : There is much to be done. We have less than 48 hours to prevent a war - or perhaps... to start one.

• Commander William T. Riker : [as the Enterprise approaches a suspected Romulan base]  I don't like it. I would've expected a greeting party.

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : You echo another noteworthy commander in similar circumstances, Number One. A countryman of yours - George Armstrong Custer, when his Seventh Cavalry arrived at the Little Big Horn.

  Commander William T. Riker : May we have better luck.

• Captain Jean-Luc Picard : Listen to what Shakespeare is telling you about the man, Data. A king who had a true feeling for his soldiers would wish to share their fears with them on the eve of battle.