Yup. Also one of my favorite bits in the whole series, in that it reminds us that:
1.) Yes, Starfleet is a military organization, despite its protestations to the contrary; and
2.) Military leadership requires one, on occasion, to be a very, very cold son of a bitch.
In short: Mercenaries have taken over the Enterprise while it is undergoing repairs, and are trying to extract a chemical from the warp core that can be used to make a Very Big WMD. They succeed in extracting the chemical - but it’s unstable, and can only be carried safely if a certain component remains attached to the container.
While fighting the lead mercenary, Picard removes this component. Big Bad beams away, and her team starts to flee in a runabout.
Data (or maybe Riker, I forget) calls Picard, and asks if they should pursue the mercenaries. Picard’s answer:
“They won’t get very far.”
No effort to Heroically Rescue the mercenaries. No effort to capture them alive. They’re just bad guys, and then they’re dead bad guys - and Picard makes them that way.
Picard acted how he had to in Starship Mine, which is why I never get why people say he acts out of character in First Contact (movie). He’s already shown that he can take charge in a fight and that he still hates the Borg for what they’ve done to him.
I’ll second this. “Skin of Evil” works because the characters – even Data – get to be real people rather than idealizations. The villain murdered their friend for no reason, and almost everyone gets irrational. I especially liked the bit where only Worf and Picard stay on task, and how Riker and Data just want the fucker dead. And I liked the lack of closure or final words for Tasha, coupled with the fact that she knew perfectly well she had good odds of dying like that.
The time-travel follow-up where she goes back in time to get a “heroic” death left a bad taste in my mouth.