Love Plan

Love Plan is the twenty-third episode of the third season.

Tagline
While on a survey mission in an asteroid field, the crewmen of the Bouteina find a peculiar device that is purported to measure the degree of one's love. Also, Neleras' feelings for intensify.

Act One
Once again, the Romulans are on the Hydran-ISC border, on a survey mission, finding nothing of much value in the field, except for a love tester. When the transporter crews beamed it onboard, Neleras is in Annika's cabin, expressing his feelings for her, musing that he never saw brainy girls being passionate in love before he saw Brianna Reiss fall in love with Vaebn Mairex and that love relationships between Tal Shiar and Tal Prai'ex members are encouraged. Meanwhile, M'Rex moves the machine to Ten Forward and they test-run the machine to see if the machine actually worked even when it was drifting in space.

Act Two
The love tester found that M'Rex had no love passion but Aerv mused that it could work for the species that built the love tester. Also, the Cardassian gagh cook has advertised the contraption over the ship's PA system and customers flocked to Ten Forward to try the machine out. T'Val gets frustrated by a 2/5 on the machine but Annika says that the machine detects hormones instead. Aerv suggests taking the operation manual and then reverse-engineer the device so that a copy could be built. They realized that whoever left the love tester there dumped it so they could avoid pirates and that it worked on Simpsons.

Act Three
However, after Otto Mann tries the machine, the device is brought offline and the manual is taken from the back cover, which Lovestospooch identified as written in ancient Hydran. The Hydran knight used the machine as Lovestospooch read the manual, not understanding anything on it. Also, the Denobulan chemist and the redshirt quarreled one another regarding the need to build another love tester for themselves. Zetra says that the Klingons possess such a device and that they should sell it. But Rakelli's appraisal was 50 strips of latinum, while others appraise it much higher.

Act Four
Lovestospooch finds that the manual dates back to the 18th century and the device is rather ancient, as well as being based on detecting manethozine. Also, Catherine Giltia is invited to test the love tester, saying that she is the same as Cardassians to this effect. And, surprisingly, it worked for her. The gagh cook was offered to be promoted a little early to erei'erein if the device wotked on Damar. The machine met his expectation of how precise a love tester should be. And the love tester incident threatens to grow to a full-scale mutiny but the mutineers are caught and punished.

Act Five
As Damar gets his uniform upgraded, he studies chemistry as he sees chemistry as a tool that he could use in the kitchen. Also, Catherine asks Rakelli to have a dress uniform made and she is told that Rakelli lieutenant commanders can have dressing tastes as extravagant as Lyran dukes. Annika decides to sell the love tester to the Pronhoulis Science Museum, whose freighter was in the system, for ten, then fifty bars of latinum. Once the love tester of wrath is beamed out of the ship, Catherine and Damar eat gagh at a candle-lit table and they talk about Monopoly, as well as gagh. The survey mission could continue after all.

Background
It is likely that the love tester featured in the Simpsons show is similar to the ancient Hydran love tester.