Stardate: 2383; The Romulan star is expected to go nova within a few years. Starfleet is stretched thin by the monumental task of relocating refugees from every planet within a radius of 10 light years from the star. Nearly all personnel and a majority of federation starships have been re-assigned to complete this one mission.
Lieutenant Commander Jack Torrance, a recently demoted Betazoid Starfleet engineer, accepts a mission to conduct a deep clean Baryon sweep of the USS Horizon, a task he must complete alone due to the shortage of skilled personnel. Successful completion of this mission will presumably redeem Jack in the eyes of his commanders and allow him to resume real research into cybernetics. Jack, along with his human wife Wendy and their mixed human/Betazoid son Danny, will live isolated from the rest of Starfleet for procedures that will require several months of automated (and radioactively dangerous) in-depth work on the ship.
Jack is an aspiring cyberneticist and recovering alcoholic with anger issues which, in years prior, had caused him to accidentally break Danny's arm and lose his position as a professor at the Daystrom Institute after assaulting a cadet. Jack hopes that the USS Horizon’s seclusion will help him reconnect with his family, and the ship’s science lab should provide him with the materials needed to develop his concepts for a bio-neural synthetic android. To take the job, Jack agrees to be cut off from access to the replicator’s liquor menu and have every phaser and weapons system removed from the starship.
The Torrances arrive at the Starship Horizon and are given a tour by its Captain, Stuart Ulmann. During a private briefing in the observation lounge, Captain Ulmann tasks Torrance with the additional job of eliminating any data and obsolete software dating back further than 20 years from the ship’s systems database. There have been complaints of glitches in some of the minor automated functions and holographic installations. He explains that most of the holographic “glitches” occur on deck 37, a section of the starship that once served as a classified base of operations for Starfleet’s Section 31. The entire deck was a “black site” that, at one time many decades ago, was not even reachable by turbolift. He then explains that Section 31 ceased operations on the Starship Horizon after a classified massacre that occurred in 2250: a previous Captain named Delbert Grady beamed his family, hundreds of crewmembers, detainees and himself out into the empty space surrounding the starship for unknown reasons, killing them all. Ulmann hopes Torrence can use his skills in heuristic computation & cybernetic design to pinpoint & erase all Section 31 algorithms that remain in the system.
Meanwhile, Danny meets with Commander Hallorann, a Betazoid counselor on the Horizon who shares his substantial telepathic abilities. Danny, unknown to his parents, possesses psychic abilities which extend far beyond the usual telepathy found in Betazoids, referred to as "shining," which enable him to read minds with deeper clarity and experience premonitions as well as clairvoyance. Before departing with his unit, Hallorann has a discussion with Danny about the abnormal strength of Betazoid telepathic abilities that the two share, which he calls "shining". Hallorann tells Danny the ship also has a "shine" due to residues from unpleasant past battles & events. He then warns Danny to avoid Deck37, and reassures him that the things he may see are merely holograms which cannot harm him. Ulmann’s remaining Starfleet crew are beamed away to the main shuttle bay of the nearby starship Verity, leaving the Torrances alone on the USS Horizon.
As the Torrances settle into the vast starship and Jack proceeds with the baryon sweep, Danny sees ghosts and frightening visions. Although Danny is close to his parents, he does not tell either of them about his visions because he senses that the mission on the Horizon is important to his father’s future standing in starfleet. Wendy considers leaving Jack on the Horizon to finish the job by himself; Danny refuses, thinking his father will be happier if they stayed. However, Danny soon realizes that his presence on the starship makes the supernatural activity more powerful, turning echoes of past tragedies & conflicts into dangerous threats.
One night during their first month, Wendy decides to celebrate the Starfleet new year by programming a traditional holographic fireworks display for the family outside the observation deck. Jack reluctantly agrees to leave his cybernetics work in the science lab to participate, but is visibly displeased with the non-alcoholic champagne. A holographic clock counts down in the empty black space beyond the observation deck window. Wendy’s beautiful fireworks display lights up the observation deck as the clock hits zero. However, Jack sneers at Wendy when he notices that the wrong year has been programmed on the holograph. The ornamented display reads 2250, when it should have counted down to Stardate 2384. Wendy insists that the date should have been automated to coincide with the starship’s internal clock. While they argue, Danny is stunned to see a naked person floating outside the observation deck amidst the fireworks simulation. The body seems to be of a Romulan man tied in a Section 31 “stress position” with his wrists bound behind the back to his ankles. Danny yells at Wendy to shut off the fireworks. Aghast at what she sees, Wendy yells a command for the holosuite to “end program.” More pale bodies emerge beyond the observation window, many wearing Starfleet uniforms, a sea of corpses stretching for several hundred meters throughout the colorful fireworks simulation. The Romulan detainee’s head bumps into the forcefield of the observation window and registers an electrical charge, implying it might be more than a hologram. Jack activates a duranium shield, and it slides in place to cover up the window. He dismisses the vision as another glitch in the holomatrix & leaves for the ship’s isolinear computer core to troubleshoot the problem.
A month later, some mannequin-like faceless androids newly designed and manufactured by Jack in the science lab come to life and begin to wordlessly appropriate command stations on the starship. An unexpected solar storm leaves the Torrances cut off from Federation subspace communications in the isolated starship.
The USS Horizon has difficulty possessing Danny, so it begins to possess Jack by frustrating his need and desire to work and by enticing him with the storied history of the starship through data modules and historical holos. Jack starts to develop cabin fever and becomes increasingly unstable, programming the subspace communication systems to radio silence, and sabotaging all shuttlecraft, the only two links with the outside world the Torrances had.
Danny gets physically bruised after playing in the holodeck on deck 37 out of curiosity. Jack encounters a decaying woman in the holodeck while attempting to troubleshoot the programming, but blames Danny for self-inflicting the bruises.
One day, after a fight with Wendy, Jack finds the starship’s Ten Forward bar fully stocked with liquor despite being previously empty. He witnesses a promotion party consisting of his own faceless android mannequins. They have somehow achieved sentience, as well as the ability to replicate themselves. The androids are also dressed in starfleet uniforms that date back to at least 80 years (Captain Kirk’s Era). Jack finds that one of the androids is possessed by the ghost of a dead starfleet bartender named Lloyd. Lloyd informs Jack that he is the guest of honor, as he is expected to be promoted to Captain of the USS Horizon. As he gets drunk, a faceless android possessed by the ghost of a former starfleet captain named Grady informs Jack that Danny has reached out to Commander Hallorann using his "talent", and says that Jack must "correct" his wife and child. He initially resists, but the increasing influence of the USS Horizon combined with Jack's own alcoholism and anger prove too great. He succumbs to his dark side and the persuasion of his possessed android creations.
Meanwhile, Commander Hallorann has received a psychic distress call from Danny while working at the Utopia Planitia Shipyards on Mars. After being denied permission to conduct a welfare check on the Horizon with his crew, Hallorann sets off alone and procures an unused Kaplan F17 Speed Freighter from the shipyard. He rushes back to the Horizon by himself at warp speed and has difficulty navigating the solar storm that is now making its way past the Horizon.
Wendy & Danny enter Jack’s engineering lab and encounter one of his faceless android prototypes. It comes alive at Wendy’s touch & repeats the phrase "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" over & over again in various voices. Jack surprises them from behind and begins to berate them for interfering with his work. Wendy tells Danny to run and hide before ripping the arm of the nearby android out of its socket and bashing Jack in the head, knocking him unconscious. She then locks him behind a security forcefield in the science lab and knocks the head off of the “all work and no play” android with its own arm before leaving to find Danny.
The android possessed by Captain Grady releases Jack from the security forcefield after it makes him promise to punish Danny and kill Wendy. Jack finds Wendy at a subspace communications center attempting to contact Danny and attacks her with a Klingon battle axe, grievously injuring her, but she escapes to the nearby shuttlebay 3 and locks herself in a shuttlecraft. She tries to power up the shuttlecraft in an attempt to ram Jack with it before realizing it’s been sabotaged. Jack attempts to break the door of the shuttlecraft with the Klingon axe, but Wendy slashes his hand with a nearby laser welder to deter him. The ship is suddenly put on red alert by the possessed androids. Jack leaves Wendy to check a nearby security display panel and observes Hallorann’s ship docking in the main shuttlebay a few decks down.
Upon arrival in the main shuttlebay on deck 2 and exiting his ship, Hallorann is pursued on foot by two of Jack’s faceless androids (who now wear 23rd century starfleet uniforms). He immediately vaporizes them with this phaser, before taking a turbolift to the bridge of the USS Horizon, where he inserts a data module into a command station to ascertain information about the state of the ship. He notices a photograph at the command center: Jack is pictured in a Captain uniform standing amidst a crowd of Starfleet personnel from April 5, 2250 (over a century earlier). Hallorann is then ambushed and severely injured by Jack himself with the Klingon axe. Jack leaves Hallorann & conducts a bioscan of the ship and finds that Danny is hiding in the holodeck on Deck 37. Jack enters the Holodeck with axe in hand and pursues Danny through a maze-like simulation of Danny’s own design. Danny allows himself to be caught by Jack and stands his ground, denouncing Jack as a mask and false face worn by the USS Horizon. Jack briefly gains control of himself and implores Danny to run away. The spirit of the starship takes control of Jack again, making him violently batter his own face and skull into ruin with the battle axe.
Wendy runs through the starship looking for Danny, encountering the Horizon’s ghosts, a conference room full of skeletons wearing Romulan clothing, and a vision of bright green Romulan blood cascading out of a turbolift. She finally enters the bridge where she finds an injured but stable Hallorann and helps him up.
Danny’s holodeck simulation is abruptly turned off as Hallorann and Wendy appear at the entrance, and they quickly escort Danny out of the holodeck. Remembering that Jack has neglected his responsibilities with the baryon sweep, Danny informs Hallorann that the ship is about to explode. Dumbfounded, Hallorann checks a master systems display panel and finds that Danny is correct: there is a fault in the Horizon’s antimatter containment chamber, which the baryon sweep will soon decimate due to Jack’s negligence. The ship could presumably blow at any second. As Danny, Wendy, and Hallorann flee in the K17 speed freighter, they are hailed by a USS Horizon shuttlecraft that now appears to have been repaired & is departing the Horizon’s shuttlebay to pursue them. Hallorann puts the shuttlecraft’s viewer on-screen, and sees that it is being piloted by one of Jack’s faceless androids. Meanwhile, the severely bloodied and unrecognizable Jack rushes to the antimatter containment chamber in an attempt to prevent the impending catastrophe, but it is too late and the warp core explodes, killing Jack and destroying the USS Horizon. Fighting off a last attempt by the USS Horizon to possess him with the shuttlecraft about to be subsumed by the radioactive shockwave, Commander Hallorann warps Danny and Wendy to safety away from the Horizon’s blast radius with the speed freighter.
Hallorann activates the freighter’s Emergency Hologram Installations: navigation, hospitality, and medical. Each holo appears in the image of Starfleet Commander Geordi La Forge. Hallorann bursts out laughing, as he now realizes it is one of La Forge’s personal ships that he has commandeered. The two have been friends since their days at Starfleet Academy. The La Forge medical hologram immediately begins treatment on Hallorann & Wendy's axe wounds. The hospitality hologram offers Danny a bowl of ice cream. Commander Hallorann tasks the navigational hologram with navigating the ship back to the Utopia Planitia shipyard. Unlike the other kinder holograms, this navigational holo is basically a spitting image of La Forge’s sarcastic personality and is bitter that his master’s ship has been stolen, but is relieved to be returning it to the shipyard without a scratch and is impressed that Hallorann was able to navigate the solar storm without his assistance.
As the F17 descends onto Mars and quietly navigates to its place in the vast shipyard, the real Commander Geordi La Forge is there waiting on the flightdeck with his arms folded. La Forge immediately beams himself onto his ship as it begins its landing. He berates Hallorann about stealing a Federation freighter at a time when the fleet is already stretched thin, and instructs the holos not to land or shut down the ship, complaining about being late in his departure for Federation Headquarters on Earth. Hallorann explains that he is expected to report to HQ himself for a briefing on the recent calamity with the Torrances, and asks to hitch a ride with La Forge on his voyage to earth. Before they can leave, Captain Ullman, the most recent Captain of the USS Horizon, hails the F17 and demands a direct explanation from Hallorann about what has happened with his ship. Hallorann beams a data module to Ullman’s office. He says that he was able to extract data from the command bridge of the USS Horizon before being attacked by Lieutenant Jack Torrence. He has not had a chance to examine the data, and recommends Ullman have his engineering team take a look at it for any holographic software malfunctions that might have occurred on the Horizon’s operating system to cause the calamity. Captain Ullman grants Hallorann permission to chaperone the traumatized Torrance family back to Starfleet headquarters.
As they leave Mars orbit for earth, Danny asks La Forge why he hasn’t engaged the warp drive if he was in such a hurry. La Forge admits he was never actually eager to report to Starfleet, as he is not looking forward to his monthly in-person “progress” briefing to the admirals. The ship resumes its course at a leisurely shuttle speed with radio silence while La Forge and Halorann catch up with each other.
While the crew is sleeping in the ship’s makeshift quarters, both Danny & Hallorann awake simultaneously from shared nightmarish visions, screaming in unison. La Forge and Wendy are startled when Danny & Hallorann begin shouting things about a fire on Mars. La Forge opens the cabin’s holocomputer and messages begin to flood in from all over starfleet. Hallorann hunts down the FNN channel on the ship’s viewscreen. That’s when they all realize that something very bad is indeed happening on Mars as they stare at the appalling images on the screen. Multiple explosions on the planet. Every shipyard is reportedly destroyed. La Forge and Hallorann watch on as they get to see, in real time from orbiting cameras, their friends and colleagues die in explosion after explosion on the planet. They had been there themselves just a few hours ago.
They try to piece together the situation: “An attack on the shipyard? How? Why? By whom?”
The FNN announcer reports that the chain reactions appear to have been started by an unexpected attack from the synthetic androids on the base.
“The data module,” Hallorann mutters. The damn data module. The operating system on the data module that he beamed down to his colleagues for analysis. The same virus that brought Jack’s inferior android mannequin experiments to sentience. The last digital remnant of the USS Horizon and the supposed ghosts that went down with it.
Then the entire Martian stratosphere ignites, and with it, any evidence that the tragedy on the USS Horizon ever occured. A fire that will burn for decades to come.
