The Survivors (Star Trek: The Next Generation)
"The Survivors" is a third season episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation first broadcast on October 9, 1989. In this episode, the Enterprise reaches a Federation colony where all except two of the 11,000 inhabitants have been killed by a mysterious attacker. The two survivors (Kevin and Rishon Uxbridge, an elderly couple) refuse assistance and do not want to be rescued. The crew of the Enterprise must determine why only two survivors remain on an otherwise obliterated planet.
Picard forces the Uxbridges' hand by vowing to remain in orbit around their planet and protect them, whether they want it or not, for the remainder of their lives. When the enemy starship reappears and obliterates the Uxbridge home, the Enterprise leaves, then returns a few hours later to find the couple and their dwelling are still on the surface, unharmed.
Kevin finally admits that things are not as they seem. He is a Douwd — a member of a race of advanced, immortal energy beings, who had been traveling the galaxy in human form many years ago when he met and fell in love with Rishon. When their colony came under attack by a Husnock warship, Rishon went to help defend her home, but Kevin — a pacifist — stayed behind. In the end, all the colonists except Kevin were killed in the battle; Rishon died without ever knowing her husband was an alien.
Upon finding his wife's broken body, Kevin was consumed with grief and anger, and in a brief but unimaginably intense moment of rage, he destroyed the attackers with a single thought — not only the one Husnock ship, but every member of the Husnock species everywhere. Devastated by his abandonment of his deeply held principles, Kevin mentally created a replica of his deceased wife and retreated into a self-imposed exile.
Picard, now understanding Kevin Uxbridge's true nature and realizing that he is in no position to judge (much less punish) a being of this sort, finally agrees to leave the alien in peace and allow him to find what solace he can in the companionship of his ersatz wife.