While Picard is tortured by his Cardassian captors, Captain Jellico infuriates the crew with his callous behavior and endangers the Enterprise by planning a first strike on the Cardassians.

David Warner (Gul Madred)
Ronny Cox (Capt. Edward Jellico)
John Durbin (Gul Lemec)
Heather Lauren Olson (Jil Orra)
Majel Barrett (Computer Voice)

• The Cardassians are interested in the Minos Korva system. The Cardassians tried to annex the system during the war.
  
• This episode results in the signing of the Federation-Cardassian Armistice, which creates the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), a buffer between Federation and Cardassian space.
  
• Riker's quarters are on Deck 9, Room 0912.
  
• Patrick Stewart's performance in this episode prompted the producers to lobby for an Emmy nomination, including a full-page ad in Variety. Unfortunately, the Academy continued to overlook the show, with the exception of the technical categories.
  
• David Warner (Gul Madred) also played Talbot in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier and Klingon Chancellor Gorkon in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.