History Recap / StarTrekTheNextGenerationS7E23PreemptiveStrike

* IdiotBall: The "perfect" choice to infiltrate the Maquis is a Bajoran officer with a history of being used and abused by Starfleet higher-ups, who admits to being friends with multiple Maquis sympathisers, and whose own father was killed by the Cardassians. Picard was lucky that Ro wasn't secretly a member of the Maquis already.

* PoorlyDisguisedPilot: Slightly less subverted than [=DS9's=] "The Maquis," as this helps lay the groundwork for ''Series/StarTrekVoyager''. Ro mentions that one of her teachers at Advanced Tactical Training was a lieutenant commander who was sympathetic to the plight of the colonists and recently resigned from Starfleet, all but outright saying that her teacher was Chakotay. There's also a Klingon, a dark-skinned Vulcan and a Native American in the bar where Ro is hiding from Riker and Worf, though they aren't actually Torres, Tuvok and Chakotay.

* BookEnds: Ro exits the series (and the franchise [[spoiler:until she comes BackForTheDead 30 years later in the ''Series/StarTrekPicard'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekPicardS3E05Imposters Imposters]]]]") the same way she entered it: As a disgraced Starfleet officer.

[[caption-width-right:350: [[DownerEnding Picard in the wake of the no good, very bad assignment]].]]

* BookEnds: Ro exits the series (and the franchise [[spoiler:until she comes BackForTheDead 30 years later in the ''Series/StarTrekPicard'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekPicardS3E05Imposter Imposter]]]]") the same way she entered it: As a disgraced Starfleet officer.

* BookEnds: Ro exits the series (and the franchise [[spoiler:until she comes BackForTheDead 30 years later in the ''Series/StarTrekPicard'' episode [[Recap/StarTrekPicardS3E05Imposter Imposter]]]]) the same way she entered it: As a disgraced Starfleet officer.

* BookEnds: Ro exits the series (and the franchise) the same she entered it: As a disgraced Starfleet officer.

* SequelEpisode: To [=DS9=]'s [[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS02E21TheMaquis "The Maquis, Part II"]]. This episode continues the cross-series march towards ''Series/StarTrekVoyager''. In the aftermath of events over on ''Deep Space Nine'' (i.e. Cal Hudson's failed strike), the Maquis have regrouped and changed tactics. Starfleet is thus left scrambling to respond and the ''Enterprise'' get dragged into the quagmire.

* BreakTheHaughty: A cross-series one for Admiral Nechayev. In her [[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS02E21TheMaquis preceding]] appearance over on ''Deep Space Nine'', Nechayev blew off Sisko's concerns about the Maquis. She arrogantly dismissed them as irresponsible hotheads and a nuisance. In the wake of those events over on the spinoff show, Nechayev here is exhausted, worried, and forced to concede the Maquis ''have'' become a legitimate threat after all.

* DownerEnding: Ro joins the Maquis and betrays the Federation, and right in front of Riker to boot. Picard, to say the least, is considerably upset upon receiving Riker's report. (The kicker? This is Ro's ''last'' appearance in the franchise.)

* UncertainDoom: Retroactive example. [[spoiler: With the complete annihilation of the Maquis at the hands of the Dominion [[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS05E23BlazeOfGlory three years later]] on ''Deep Space Nine'', Ro's canonical fate and whether or not she survived the massacre is never revealed.]]

* BreakTheHaughty: A cross-series one for Admiral Nechayev. In her preceding appearance over on ''Deep Space Nine'' ([[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS02E21TheMaquis "The Maquis, Part II"]]), Nechayev blew off Sisko's concerns about the Maquis. She arrogantly dismissed them as irresponsible hotheads and a nuisance. In the wake of those events over on the spinoff show, Nechayev here is exhausted, worried, and forced to concede the Maquis ''have'' become a legitimate threat after all.

* UncertainDoom: Retroactive example. [[spoiler: With the complete annihilation of the Maquis at the hands of the Dominion [[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS05E23BlazeOfGlory three years later]] on ''Deep Space Nine'', it's never Ro's canonical fate and whether or not she survived is unknown.]]

[[caption-width-right:350: Picard in the wake of the no good, very bad assignment.]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/preemptivestrike002.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"Isn't it great that'll you always stay with Starfleet and never leave it for some colonist group?"]]

** Nechayev is also off her game, tired, and not sniping at Picard as usual. This makes him realize just how worried the Admiral is about the Maquis crisis.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Evek warns Picard that if Starfleet can't rein in the Maquis, then the Cardassian Central Command will take matters into its own hands. This threat will get [[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS02E25Tribunal picked up]] over on ''Deep Space Nine''.
** As mentioned up under CallForward, the mention of one of Ro's instructors at Advance Tactical defecting was meant to set up [[Series/StarTrekVoyager Chakotay]].

** There's also arguably Meta subtext here as well. This is after all TNG's penultimate episode and ''Voyager'' was in pre-production. One could thus see this as TNG symbolically passing the sword to its then-upcoming second spinoff show.

** There's also arguably Meta subtext here as well. TNG was a

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Evek warns Picard that if Starfleet can't rein in the Maquis, the Central Command will take matters into its own hands. This threat will get picked up over on [[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS02E25Tribunal ''Deep Space Nine'']].

* BreakTheHaughty: A cross-series one for Admiral Nechayev. In her preceding appearance over on ''Deep Space Nine'' ([[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS02E21TheMaquis "The Maquis, Part II"]]), Nechayev blew off Sisko's concerns about the Maquis. She arrogantly dismissed them as irresponsible hotheads and a nuisance. In the wake of those events over in the spinoff show, Nechayev here is now exhausted, worried, and is forced to concede the Maquis ''have'' become a legitimate threat.