Captain James T. Kirk attends the christening of the USS Enterprise-B, successor to the USS Enterprise-A, which he commanded. This unfinished and unprepared Enterprise-B is commanded by the young and inexperienced Captain John Harriman. Pressed into a rescue mission during its maiden voyage, Enterprise rescues 47 El-Aurian refugees caught in an "energy ribbon." Among those rescued is Tolian Soran and Guinan. Captain Kirk appears to be killed during the rescue mission. Seventy-eight years later, the USS Enterprise-D, captained by Jean-Luc Picard, receives and responds to a distress call from the Amargosa solar observatory station. The crew finds that the station has been attacked, apparently by Romulans. One survivor, Tolian Soran, returns to the station ostensibly to complete an important experiment. Soran then launches a trilithium-based projectile into the heart of the Amargosa star, causing it to nova. He takes Geordi La Forge prisoner aboard the station, and escapes with him aboard a Klingon bird-of-prey belonging to the Duras sisters.