Riker is briefed on a possible assignment to captain the starship U.S.S. Aries (NCC-45167) by his estranged father, Kyle Riker. Wesley, Data, Geordi, and O'Brien help Worf go through the anniversary of the Klingon Rite of Ascension in the Holodeck.

Diana Muldaur (Dr. Katherine Pulaski)
Mitchell Ryan (Kyle Riker)
Colm Meaney (Chief Miles O'Brien)

Lance Spellerberg (Ensign Herbert)

• The Enterprise docks at Starbase Montgomery to have its warp engines checked.
  
• Will Riker left home when he was 15. His mother died when he was 2 years old.
  
• Dr. Pulaski tells Commander Riker that she would have married Kyle Riker 12 years ago, but his career was a priority.
  
• Will and Kyle Riker battle it out in an Anbo-Jyutsu match.
  
• Earlier this season in "A Matter of Honor", Will is shocked that Kang doesn't speak to his father ("but he's your father!").
  
• "Entertainment Tonight" co-anchor John Tesh plays one of the 8 holodeck Klingons in this episode, who hit Worf with Klingon Painsticks to test his character.