Data must convince a colony of 15,000 people to evacuate before the aliens who own the planet arrive.
Another day on the Enterprise; another of Worf’s terrible backlit selfies on the viewscreen.
First Broadcast: 2nd October 1989.
Quote: “Splendid. Splendid. Carry on.”
Score: 7
MP3 can be downloaded here. More episode info on IMDB, Memory Alpha, and Wikipedia
Star Trek: The Rewatch 
Your brief mention of Chief O’Brien’s “pay grade” reminded me of an absolutely fantastic essay that explores the possibility that Star Trek’s economic structure is an example of a Proto Post Scarcity Economy:
View at Medium.com
Did you notice that Miles O’Brien played the cello in the first scene? Incidentally Colm Meaney didn’t have any dialogue in this episode despite being shown quite often.
Did you notice how the cast all seem to be well tanned in this episode almost to the point of being sunburnt in Frakes’ case? There’s a few SD shots here on Trek Core (http://tng.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/s3/3×01/theensignsofcommand026.jpg, http://tng.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/s3/3×01/theensignsofcommand144.jpg) but it’s more obvious in the richer colours of the blu-ray HD edition. I guess since it was the first to be filmed after the summer break they were all fresh off the LA beaches.
This was also the first time during the rewatch that I actually noticed the “Picard manoeuvre”: perhaps it was the new uniforms that instantly lead to its genesis?
Ah, I’ve found the HD screenshots too! Here you go: http://tng.trekcore.com/hd/albums/3×02/the_ensigns_of_command_hd_047.jpg and http://tng.trekcore.com/hd/albums/3×02/the_ensigns_of_command_hd_232.jpg