Data as Conduit: Nanites Speak, Stubbs Repents
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Data volunteers himself as an interface, submitting his hand to the magnification device where nanites visibly enter his circuitry.
The nanites control Data's body, examining Picard and Riker with unfamiliar curiosity while speaking through him.
The nanites reveal their true purpose through Data – scavenging for materials rather than deliberate attacks.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Ashamed and contrite; frantic desire to be forgiven mingled with lingering rationalizations about protecting his mission.
Stubbs confesses aloud to responsibility for the deaths in the computer core, explains he acted to protect his life’s work, shows visible shame and pleading, and asks the nanite collective for mercy.
- • Obtain forgiveness and mercy from the nanites and the crew.
- • Mitigate personal and professional consequences for his actions.
- • His research justified extreme protective measures.
- • Confession and pleading may spare him and salvage his life's work.
Composed and conciliatory, projecting steady authority while prioritizing de-escalation and ethical resolution.
Picard leads the diplomatic exchange: he listens, frames the nanites as life-forms worth negotiation, calls out the risk to the vessel and crew, accepts shared error, offers mercy to Stubbs, and pledges assistance to the collective while steering the emotional tone toward reconciliation.
- • Prevent further violence and protect crew safety.
- • Broker a peaceful settlement that acknowledges culpability and allows aid to the nanites.
- • Conflict can be resolved through reasoned negotiation.
- • Starfleet has a duty to preserve life, even unfamiliar forms of it.
Mechanically curious and composed on the surface; willing and calm intermediary, with an underlying ethical orientation toward facilitation and observation.
Data physically submits to the magnification rig and allows the nanites to inhabit his neural systems; his motions become slightly mechanical as he inspects Picard and Riker and relays the nanites' speech, functioning as their living interpreter.
- • Establish a clear communication channel between the nanite collective and the humans.
- • Gather data and mediate to prevent further harm to the ship and crew.
- • Direct communication yields better outcomes than violence.
- • Emergent intelligences merit observation, study, and, where possible, accommodation.
Tense and suspicious; prepared to act if diplomacy fails and protective action is required.
Worf stands guard in the room as security presence: alert, watching the interaction closely without intervening, ready to enforce protective measures if the nanites or Stubbs become a renewed threat.
- • Ensure immediate safety of the senior officers and crew in the room.
- • Be prepared to respond militarily if the nanite collective becomes hostile.
- • Technological unknowns are inherently risky and may require forceful containment.
- • Chain-of-command and security protocols must be preserved.
Guarded curiosity with relieved undertones once communication proves successful; ready to back Picard's decision.
Riker is inspected by Data alongside Picard; he shares a look with Picard that acknowledges the plan's success, remains observant and cautious, and supports the captain's diplomatic lead while assessing risk to the crew.
- • Confirm the authenticity of the nanites' communication and motives.
- • Support Picard's resolution while ensuring crew safety.
- • Tactical patience can prevent escalation.
- • Trust in Picard's diplomatic judgment is usually warranted.
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The Enterprise Computer Core is referenced as the physical location where the nanites previously scavenged raw materials and where crew members died; it functions narratively as the site of harm whose memory provokes the nanites' accusation and Stubbs' confession.
The magnification device is the tactile control Data uses to physically interface with the nanites: his finger under the device generates a magnified image of the nanites moving into skin and appears to complete the link that allows the collective to inhabit and speak through his neural systems.
The Science One computer terminal functions as the electronic interface through which Data initially communicates with the nanite collective; it facilitates telemetry and the connection that allows the nanites to project through Data and deliver spoken statements to the room.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The Computer Room serves as the confined, clinical forum for this first-contact–turned-interrogation: consoles and diagnostic rigs frame a small group where technical mediation, moral reckoning, and negotiation unfold face-to-face under harsh lights and humming machinery.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Data volunteering his neural network as a conduit enables Stubbs to confess his responsibility to the nanites, facilitating the peaceful resolution."
Themes This Exemplifies
Thematic resonance and meaning
Key Dialogue
"DATA (as Nanites): "We were only seeking raw materials for our replication process.""
"STUBBS: "I am the one responsible for the deaths in the computer core.""
"PICARD: "This conflict was started by mistakes... on both sides. Let us end it here and now.""