Yar Reports Sabotage and the Frozen Dead in Engineering
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Lieutenant Yar reports from Engineering that ten people are frozen with no vital signs, revealing the contagion’s deadly impact spreading aboard.
Yar explains the freezing resulted from environmental controls manipulated to vent heat into space, though Riker rejects this as ridiculous, signaling rising tension over the mysterious cause.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Calm and analytical, masking concern as he processes grim evidence.
Data methodically records the chaotic corridor scene and the viewscreen image with his tricorder, providing precise linguistic correction to Riker and maintaining logical composure amidst rising tension.
- • Document evidence of sabotage accurately.
- • Support Riker's investigation with precise observations.
- • Precision in language aids clarity and understanding.
- • Accurate data collection is essential to solving the crisis.
Tense and incredulous, grappling with the shock and implications of sabotage beyond his expectations.
Riker leads the investigation with urgency and skepticism, interpreting the viewscreen's evidence of the blown hatch and responding to Lieutenant Yar's alarming report of frozen crew members, struggling to reconcile the calculated sabotage with his rational disbelief.
- • Confirm the cause of the crew's deaths.
- • Understand the extent and method of sabotage.
- • Sabotage may be involved but must be proven.
- • Crew safety and containment of threats is paramount.
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The Emergency Hatch, violently blown open and missing from its bulkhead position, serves as the tragic physical cause of the crew’s deaths by sudden decompression, symbolizing brutal sabotage and acting as the central clue in the investigation.
The Tsiolkovsky Bridge Corridor Viewscreen projects the harrowing live image of the blown emergency hatch, revealing the void of space beyond and the absence of crew, providing immediate visual confirmation of sabotage for Riker and Data to assess.
Data utilizes the Starfleet Tricorder to systematically scan and record the disorderly Second Corridor and the viewscreen image, providing empirical evidence of the sabotage and the blown emergency hatch, crucial for building the investigation's factual basis.
Picard’s Communicator facilitates urgent communication across ship sections; here, it transmits Lieutenant Yar’s critical report from Engineering to Commander Riker, enabling prompt response to the environmental sabotage and frozen crew crisis.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The Second Corridor, scarred by phaser fire and littered with remnants of a chaotic party, serves as the investigative stage where Data and Riker uncover visual and physical signs of sabotage, amplifying the event’s grim tone.
Engineering is the critical site where Lieutenant Yar discovers the frozen crew, confirming a second layer of sabotage involving environmental controls, escalating the crisis with tangible human cost and technical complexity.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Yar's report of environmental control manipulation harks back to the initial discovery of the emergency hatch blowout on the Tsiolkovsky, linking cause and effect across narrative distance."
"Yar's report of environmental control manipulation harks back to the initial discovery of the emergency hatch blowout on the Tsiolkovsky, linking cause and effect across narrative distance."
Key Dialogue
"RIKER: Their bridge. If this thing works, be sure to record ---"
"RIKER: You were right. Somebody blew the hatch and they were all sucked out into space.."
"DATA: Correction, sir, blown out."
"TASHA'S COM VOICE: Commander Riker, it's Lieutenant Yar, location Engineering. Ten people here, sir, all frozen. No vital signs."
"RIKER: (touches communicator) Frozen how?"
"TASHA'S COM VOICE: Looks to me like someone was playing with the environmental controls, sir. Just let all the heat bleed away into space."
"RIKER: That's ridiculous!"
"TASHA'S COM VOICE: That's what I say, sir."