Breaking Protocol — Confronting the Inevitable
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Picard orders P2 released from the forcefield, overruling Pulaski’s warning—his command fractures protocol, signaling he will no longer contain the inevitable.
Picard clears Sickbay of all personnel—ordering security to stand down—creating a sacred, isolated space for the confrontation that will decide the ship’s fate.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Neutral, procedural readiness — prepared to execute orders and secure areas as directed.
Named by Pulaski when she calls via communicator; Security is summoned to Sickbay but Picard countermanded that call and ordered them to clear Shuttle Bay Two instead, which redirects their operational focus though they do not appear physically in the excerpt.
- • Respond to medical/security calls and secure Sickbay or other ordered locations.
- • Execute Captain's orders to clear Shuttle Bay Two and remove distractions.
- • Orders from medical officers or the captain carry authority and must be followed.
- • Clearing areas and enforcing access are the quickest way to reduce chaotic variables in a crisis.
Concerned, professionally wary — she prioritizes safety and procedure but defers to command when confronted with Picard's direct order.
Pulaski monitors the duplicate's agitation, maintains clinical authority, initially keeps the containment field engaged, touches her communicator to summon Security, and complies when Picard orders release, registering concern while attempting to preserve medical protocol.
- • Prevent harm to the duplicate and the ship via medical containment and security support.
- • Ensure Sickbay protocol and patient safety are maintained despite command pressure.
- • Medical containment is the correct immediate response to an unstable patient.
- • Chain-of-command and Security involvement are necessary for safety in ambiguous, dangerous situations.
Overwhelmed panic mixed with resigned urgency — believes leaving is the only option and appears haunted by traumatic memory.
Physically agitated and disoriented, P2 insists on leaving for Shuttle Bay Two, claims the vortex 'wants' him, has intermittent recognition of Sickbay and Picard, and responds with rising panic while being escorted into the corridor and turbolift.
- • Reach Shuttle Bay Two and leave the Enterprise.
- • Satisfy or appease the entity in the vortex to protect the ship (as he understands it).
- • The energy vortex is a sentient entity that seeks him specifically.
- • If he does not leave, the Enterprise will be destroyed and his leaving might distract the vortex long enough for the ship to escape.
Businesslike urgency — prioritizes delivering critical engineering status to command under pressure.
Riker's voice reports an imminent technical failure via com — 'We are about to lose warp drive' — interrupting the interrogation and heightening the urgency; he does not appear in person but his report briefly aligns Picard and P2.
- • Inform the captain about the warp drive failure so appropriate tactical decisions can be made.
- • Maintain ship safety by reporting technical status quickly and clearly.
- • Technical realities (warp drive status) must be reported immediately, regardless of other ongoing crises.
- • Command needs precise information to make life-or-death decisions.
Quietly concerned and emotionally attuned — absorbing the duplicate's distress and Picard's intensity, ready to support the captain or patient as needed.
Troi stands with Pulaski, listening and observing the exchange between Picard and his duplicate; she provides empathic presence though she speaks little in this excerpt and registers emotional resonance with P2's panic.
- • Stabilize the emotional situation and provide empathic interpretation if asked.
- • Protect both Picard and the duplicate from panic-driven choices that could worsen the crisis.
- • Emotional states provide critical data in anomalies involving duplicates and temporal phenomena.
- • Her empathic insight can help bridge understanding between Picard and the duplicate.
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
Pulaski has the restraining medical forcefield engaged around P2's biobed; Picard orders the field released so he can confront and physically escort the duplicate. The field's brief reappearance and deactivation dramatize the tug between medical containment and command prerogative.
The turbolift functions as the physical conduit when P2 and Picard leave Sickbay; its arrival and doors opening mark the transition from a contained medical setting to an active, ship‑wide tactical pathway toward the shuttle bay and the looming decision.
Pulaski touches her communicator to summon Security, using it as the procedural lever to call enforcement; Picard then uses the same communication channel to override her request and issue a counter-order to clear Shuttle Bay Two, turning the device into an instrument of competing authority.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The turbolift serves as the mechanical threshold marking the shift from private interrogation to active pursuit; its doors opening and closing punctuate the urgency and provide the necessary mobility to reach Shuttle Bay Two quickly.
Shuttle Bay Two is the focal objective of P2's plan and Picard's intervention: the potential site of escape where the duplicate believes he must go to placate the vortex. The captain orders the bay cleared to remove distractions and control the conditions of any confrontation that will occur there.
Shuttle Bay Two is the focal objective of P2's plan and Picard's intervention: the potential site of escape where the duplicate believes he must go to placate the vortex. The captain orders the bay cleared to remove distractions and control the conditions of any confrontation that will occur there.
The corridor just outside Sickbay acts as the compressed transitional throat where Picard and P2's verbal duel continues; it physically narrows options and symbolically funnels the duplicate toward the ship's edge and his decision to leave.
Sickbay is the event's crucible: a clinical ward where medical containment, emotional confrontation, and command collide. It houses the restrained duplicate, Pulaski's forcefield console, Troi's empathic presence, and becomes the staging ground for Picard's decisive override of procedure.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Riker’s Möbius loop theory is mirrored in P2’s inability to conceive of any choice beyond self-sacrifice. Both moments explore inescapable fate — one as a narrative construct, the other as psychological prison — reinforcing the theme that deterministic thinking (whether temporal or personal) is the true enemy."
"Riker’s Möbius loop theory is mirrored in P2’s inability to conceive of any choice beyond self-sacrifice. Both moments explore inescapable fate — one as a narrative construct, the other as psychological prison — reinforcing the theme that deterministic thinking (whether temporal or personal) is the true enemy."
Key Dialogue
"PICARD: "No. Security, this is the captain -- disregard that order. And clear all personnel -- repeat, all personnel -- from Shuttle Bay Two. I don't want any distractions. You... stay here.""
"P2: "I must.""
"P2: "It's me.""