“Lower Decks”
Written by Ron Wilkerson & Jean Louise Matthias and Rene Echevarria
Directed by Gabrielle Beaumont
Season 7, Episode 15
Production episode 40276-267
Original air date: February 7, 1994
Stardate: 47566.7
Captain’s Log: Riker and Troi are doing crew evaluations in Ten-Forward. At another table, four junior officers—Ogawa, along with three ensigns, Sito Jaxa (last seen as a disgraced cadet alongside Wes Crusher), Sam Lavelle, and Taurik—are playing a board game. Lavelle is a nervous wreck, as he’s up for promotion and really wants it, despite the urging of Sito to just relax and the mocking of Taurik, who doesn’t think crossing his fingers, closing his eyes, and chanting “Promotion, promotion, promotion” over and over again is a particularly effective strategy for achieving an upgrade in rank. The Ten-Forward waiter, Ben, then lets them know something he overheard: that Lavelle and Sito are both up for the gamma-shift ops position.
Riker runs a battle drill on the bridge. Lavelle is at conn for the simulation, while Sito is at tactical. Riker tells Sito about a trick with locking phasers that will enable her to do so faster in a battle situation, something they don’t teach at the Academy, and he also responds to Lavelle’s overeager “Aye aye, sir” with a bit of a slapdown. Picard then comes onto the bridge and orders a course change to the Argaya system, which is near Cardassian space. The senior officers go to the observation lounge to discuss their change in mission, and Sito takes over at ops, where she and Lavelle chat for a bit.
[I am your worst nightmare.]