In 2293, retired Starfleet officers James T. Kirk, Montgomery Scott, and Pavel Chekov attend the maiden voyage of the USS Enterprise-B. During the shakedown cruise, the starship is pressed into a rescue-mission to save two El-Aurian refugee ships that have been snared by a massive energy ribbon. The Enterprise is able to save some of the refugees before their ships are destroyed, but becomes trapped by the ribbon, and Kirk goes to a control room to help the ship escape. While the Enterprise is freed, Kirk is presumed lost in space and dead after the trailing-end of the ribbon tears open the ship’s hull.
In 2371, the crew of the USS Enterprise-D is in a holodeck computer simulation, celebrating the promotion of shipmate Worf to lieutenant commander. Captain Jean-Luc Picard learns his brother and nephew have been killed in a fire, and is distraught that the Picard family line will end with him. The Enterprise receives a distress call from a stellar observatory, where an El-Aurian, Dr. Tolian Soran, launches a probe at the nearby star. The probe causes the star to implode, creating a shockwave that destroys its planetary system. Soran kidnaps Enterprise engineer Geordi La Forge and is transported off the station by a Klingon Bird of Prey belonging to the Duras sisters.
Enterprise crewmember Guinan tells Picard that she and Soran were among the El-Aurians rescued in 2293. Soran is obsessed with reentering the energy ribbon to reach the “Nexus,” an extra-dimensional realm that exists outside of normal space-time. Soran—who lost his family when their homeworld was destroyed—wants to escape death through the Nexus, which Guinan describes as “pure joy,” and where time has no meaning. Picard and Data determine that Soran, unable to fly a ship directly into the ribbon, is altering its path by removing the gravitational effects of nearby stars. He plans to destroy another star to bring the ribbon to him on the planet Veridian III, consequently killing millions on a nearby inhabited planet.
Upon entering the Veridian-system, Picard offers himself to the Duras sisters in exchange for La Forge, but insists that he be transported to Soran directly. La Forge is returned to the Enterprise, but unwittingly exposes the ship’s defense details through the transmitter installed in his VISOR device. The Duras sisters attack, and the Enterprise sustains critical damage before destroying the Bird of Prey by rigging their cloaking device and firing photon torpedoes. When La Forge reports that the starship is about to suffer a warp-core breach as a result of the attack, Commander William Riker evacuates everyone to the forward saucer-section of the starship, which separates from the engineering section just before the breach occurs. The resulting shockwave sends the saucer-section crashing onto the surface of Veridian III, damaging it beyond repair.
Picard fails to stop Soran, as he succeeds in launching another probe into the Veridian system’s star, resulting in a similar shockwave to the one that destroyed the observatory. The destruction of the Veridian star and the disappearance of its gravitational force alters the course of the ribbon, the shockwave causes the destruction of Veridian III, the Enterprise, and its crew but not before Soran and Picard enter the Nexus, and Picard finds himself surrounded by an idealized family, but realizes it is an illusion. He is confronted by an “echo” of Guinan left behind in the Nexus. Guinan sends him to meet James T. Kirk, safe in the Nexus. Though Kirk is initially entranced by the opportunity to atone for past regrets, he realizes it lacks danger and excitement. Having learned that they can travel whenever and wherever desired through the Nexus, Picard convinces Kirk to return with him to Veridian III, shortly before Soran launches the probe.
Working together, Kirk and Picard distract Soran long enough for Picard to lock the probe in place; it explodes on the launchpad and kills Soran. Kirk is fatally injured in the effort and, after he dies, Picard buries him on the mountain with his “captain” badge. Three Federation starships arrive to retrieve the Enterprise-survivors from Veridian III. Picard muses that given the ship’s legacy, the Enterprise-D will not be the last vessel to carry the name.
Star Trek Command 