Narrative Web
Character
Romulan Scout (hailing transmission)
View Journey

Setal

ambiguous (possibly deceptive) urgent desperate fearful
Setal registers as the disembodied voice of a Romulan scout who urgently hails the Enterprise requesting asylum and claiming to be under pursuit. The transmission arrives interference-filled and desperate, forcing Starfleet officers to weigh humanitarian duty against tactical risk. Setal's broadcast functions as a catalyst: it transforms a neutral-zone sensor blip into a moral-diplomatic dilemma and draws immediate attention from Picard, Riker, Worf, and the ship's command team. The voice remains ambiguous—genuine refugee or possible provocation—shaping subsequent command decisions.
21 appearances
Diplomatic Relations
Also known as: Setal's Transmission, Setal's Com Voice, Setal (hail)

Setal's Journey

A timeline through the narrative

21 moments
S3E10 · The Defector
Hail from the Neutral Zone — Warning or Trap

Panicked and pleading; the voice conveys fear and a last-ditch appeal to humanitarian duty.

Setal's voice arrives over a noisy channel with interference, pleading for Federation assistance and requesting asylum while claiming to be under pursuit, catalyzing the ethical dimension of the encounter.

View full event
S3E10 · The Defector
Plea for Asylum — Warbird Decloaks

Panicked and pleading in tone—either legitimately frightened or performing fear to elicit aid.

Sends a static-filled, urgent voice transmission over the open channel pleading for assistance and requesting asylum, claiming to be under pursuit — the transmission catalyzes the bridge's moral and tactical …

View full event
S3E10 · The Defector
Asylum Plea from a Crippled Scout

Acute fear and physical distress, sincere urgency in a voice pleading for survival.

On the viewscreen Setal appears wounded and desperate, pleading for help; his transmission is abruptly cut off by an explosion that rocks his scout, demonstrating vulnerability and creating the asylum …

View full event
S3E10 · The Defector
Interpose: Extending Shields Around the Crippled Scout

Fearful and pleading — immediate, personal desperation overriding any political masking.

Appears on the viewscreen wounded and frantic, sits amid visible bridge damage while pleading for immediate help; his transmission is abruptly cut off by an off-screen explosion that leaves his …

View full event
S3E10 · The Defector
Injured Romulan Demands Immediate Audience with Picard

Frenetic urgency layered over controlled insistence—appears desperate but focused on a specific objective.

Materializes with a visible neck injury, scans the room briefly, refuses the offered medical aid, and insists on immediate audience with Captain Picard while claiming to possess information essential to …

View full event
S3E10 · The Defector
Defector's Warning — A Chess Move and an Explosion

Driven and desperate; a mix of righteous conviction and controlled theatricality intended to compel action.

Delivers a fervent, theatrical warning about Nelvana Three and an impending reactor activation; makes direct, unflinching eye contact with Riker and presses the inevitability of war, then is escorted from …

View full event
S3E10 · The Defector
Prophecy, Doubt, and the Scout's Explosion

Determined and aggrieved on the surface; impatient and perhaps seeking validation or retribution beneath the cadence of his plea.

Setal delivers an urgent, fervent testimony about Nelvana Three and the reactor core, locking eyes with Riker and showing a mix of pride and bitterness; he accepts Picard's offer for …

View full event
S3E10 · The Defector
Scout Explodes — The Tension Breaks

Urgent and intense on the surface; his frustration at being deferred suggests impatience and possible resentment — simultaneously pleading for action and performing conviction.

Setal delivers a fervent, pride-tinged testimony about Romulan plans and a reactor coming online, holds eye contact with Riker, shows frustration when Picard offers medical attention instead of immediate belief, …

View full event
S3E10 · The Defector
Calm Confession, Clever Deflection

Controlled and slightly smug—wearing weary conviction that his actions were righteous and that his words can influence or manipulate his listeners.

Setal calmly confesses he armed the auto‑destruct, frames the act as a moral choice to prevent capture and misuse, taunts Klingon presence, and uses rhetoric to reframe the Federation as …

View full event
S3E10 · The Defector
A Doctor's Knowledge and a Seed of Distrust

Weary and controlled — visibly in pain but strategically composed, alternating between vulnerability and rhetorical provocation.

Setal endures treatment, answers Riker about arming his ship's auto-destruct, thanks Beverly for her knowledge, offers his rating code as proof, taunts Worf and pivots into a deliberate warning about …

View full event
S3E10 · The Defector
Words as Weapons — A Quiet Provocation in Sickbay

Composed and slightly amused; weary from pursuit but deliberately provocative—masking caution with ironic detachment.

Setal lies on the biobed while Beverly treats his neck; he calmly admits arming his ship's auto‑destruct, provokes Worf with cultural insults, and issues a measured warning about warriors and …

View full event
S3E10 · The Defector
Guest Quarters — Metric Misstep and the Hidden Chip

Tortured and anxious beneath a thin veneer of composure—shame, regret, and fear intermingle with deliberate secrecy.

Left alone in the quarter, Setal requests water, bungles the ship's temperature units, demonstrates visible frustration and self-reproach, sits on the bed, removes a boot, opens a wristband to reveal …

View full event
S3E10 · The Defector
Wristband Reveal — The Hidden Blue Chip

Outwardly weary and frustrated; inwardly tense and guarded—resentful and resolute, hiding panic beneath strained composure.

Alone in the quarters, Setal struggles with a small cultural detail, accepts a materialized glass of water, sits on the bed, removes a boot, flips open a wristband to reveal …

View full event
S3E10 · The Defector
Interrogating the Defector: Proof vs. Plea

Increasingly agitated and pleading; alternates between composed testimony and righteous indignation as he attempts to convert skepticism into belief.

Setal sits on the platform, answers Riker's factual probes while correcting a planted sector misname, insists he observed large classified files, explains a hurried one-man escape, then moves from measured …

View full event
S3E10 · The Defector
Setal's Moral Gamble: A Plea for Belief

Openly desperate and wounded; a mixture of righteous urgency and the vulnerability of someone who has irreversibly abandoned his former life.

Setal alternates between guarded accuracy and sudden passion. He names files and sectors, admits he cannot produce the dossiers, and ultimately reaches out in a physical gesture of supplication while …

View full event
S3E10 · The Defector
Twenty-One Hours — Suspicion Tightens

Agitated and uneasy — outward pacing suggests anxiety and possibly a desire to influence or escape the scrutiny he's under.

Setal paces the narrow guest quarters, physically expressing anxiety and entrapment; his restlessness visually punctuates Picard's log and underlines the human urgency behind the intelligence report.

View full event
S3E10 · The Defector
Troi's Probe Forces Jarok's Name

Fatigued and enraged on the surface; a brittle mix of resentment, shame, and a hollow resignation that allows a slip into confession.

Setal alternates between defensive evasion and physical outbursts—slamming and pounding the table—before slumping defeated and naming Admiral Jarok. He speaks tersely, resists questions, then allows exhaustion and anger to break …

View full event
S3E10 · The Defector
Riker's Accusation Breaks Setal

Feigning contempt and irritation that erupts into anger, then collapses into exhausted resignation and rueful self-reproach.

Setal shifts from terse deflection to physical fury — slamming and pounding the table — then abruptly slumps back into his chair and speaks a rueful line that dissolves bravado …

View full event
S3E10 · The Defector
Cold Exchange at the Viewport

Brooding melancholy intercut with defensiveness — nostalgic for home yet suspicious, using menace to preserve distance and prevent being treated as an object of study.

Setal sits alone at the table, nursing an exotic drink, brooding at the viewport. He confronts Data's scrutiny, identifies him as an android, issues a veiled threat invoking Romulan cyberneticists, …

View full event
S3E10 · The Defector
Exile, Longing, and Data's Offer

Vulnerable grief masked by pride and irritation; alternates between restrained sorrow and sharp defensiveness to protect dignity.

Setal sits alone nursing an exotic drink and brooding at the viewport, alternately defensive and melancholic; he vocalizes exile, insults the ship's offerings, and recounts the irreplaceable landmarks of Romulus.

View full event
S3E10 · The Defector
Mask Off: Setal Declares Jarok

Shifting from wistful nostalgia and fresh pain to disciplined resolve and controlled defiance; sorrow is converted into purposeful indignation.

Setal enters the holodeck, momentarily responds with recognition and apparent comfort to the Valley of Chula, then recoils; he orders the program turned off, asserts that his sacrifices must not …

View full event