Krag's Holographic Indictment: Riker at the Reactor
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Krag presents damning holographic 'evidence' of Riker firing a phaser at the station's reactor just before transport, directly contradicting Riker's testimony.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Neutral and professional; he provides standard transporter confirmation without emotional coloring, inadvertently supplying a timestamp used in the accusation.
O'Brien's voice is present over coms as routine transporter procedure—'Stand by, Commander. Engaging transport.'—providing the temporal anchor Krag uses to align the phaser discharge and the dematerialization sequence.
- • Execute transporter protocols correctly and communicate status to the bridge.
- • Maintain technical integrity of the transport while under scrutiny.
- • He believes transporter procedures are routine and their logs are reliable.
- • He believes that crew communications should be precise and unambiguous during operations.
Clinically confident and determined; he shows no rancor, only a procedural appetite to convert data into a legally decisive narrative.
Krag seizes control of the holodeck presentation, layers Tanugan ground‑computer telemetry over Data's program, and plays an alternative simulation in which Riker fires a phaser at the reactor. He freezes the image and states the temporal relationship to the explosion, presenting the overlay as damning objective proof.
- • Secure a conviction or at least grounds for extradition by producing ostensibly incontrovertible evidence.
- • Demonstrate Tanugan forensic competence and pressure the Enterprise into cooperation.
- • He believes objective telemetry and computer reconstructions carry decisive weight in adjudication.
- • He believes that freeze‑frame overlays and hypothetical reconstructions are legitimate and persuasive evidence.
Sincere longing shifted to shock and grief; in the reconstruction she is presented as both wounded and inadvertent evidence in the escalating dispute.
Manua appears in the initial holodeck guest‑quarters recreation as an object of intimacy and then distress; her tears and exit provide the emotional catalyst for the confrontation that Krag later reframes with forensic overlay.
- • Seek comfort and privacy on the isolated station.
- • Defend her dignity after Apgar's public humiliation (implicit goal within reconstruction).
- • She believes privacy is deserved on a small station and that intimacy is not a betrayal.
- • She believes Apgar's anger will be personal rather than institutional—misunderstood rather than punitive.
Angry and defensive, alternating with shame; his behavior suggests a bruised dignity that could supply motive in an accusatory frame.
Doctor Apgar is rendered in the holodeck as furious and humiliated; he confronts Riker, strikes Manua, threatens grievance, and then sits at a console—his actions and emotional collapse are the fragile motive Krag exploits when overlaying the forensic data.
- • Protect his reputation and secure material (dicosilium) for his work.
- • Ensure that any perceived impropriety is addressed by official channels (file grievance).
- • He believes others don't understand the pressure of his research and will judge him unfairly.
- • He believes improper access or favoritism threatens the integrity of his work and station safety.
Concerned and exacting; he is caught between institutional duty to evidence and personal loyalty, forced to acknowledge data that endangers his first officer.
Picard confirms the sensor reading Krag cites ('That is correct') and stands as the Enterprise's authoritative witness to the telemetry; his agreement validates Krag's overlay and raises the stakes for Riker's defense.
- • Ascertain the technical truth behind the readings before acting rashly.
- • Protect the Enterprise crew while respecting interjurisdictional investigative protocols.
- • He believes sensors and ship telemetry are generally reliable but must be contextualized by human testimony.
- • He believes in due process and will not allow a summary judgment without examination.
Controlled on the surface but exposed and cornered; resolute in denial while privately alarmed and humiliated by the apparent evidence.
Riker participates as the accused subject of the holodeck recon: he freezes the program, narrates his version, and then is shown—via Krag's overlay—firing a phaser immediately before transport. He speaks briefly in denial and stands as the emotional focal point of the accusation.
- • Protect his reputation and prove he did not fire a phaser.
- • Preserve due process and prevent immediate extradition or punitive action.
- • He believes he did not discharge a weapon at the station.
- • He believes that testimony, not spectacle, should determine guilt; simulated 'proof' can be misleading.
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The guest‑quarters environmental control panel is used diegetically in the recreation to show privacy being asserted (door closure); it is part of the staged intimacy that precedes the confrontation Krag overlays with telemetry.
The transporter console provides the operational timestamps and O'Brien's 'engaging transport' announcement that serve as the temporal anchor Krag uses to align the phaser discharge with dematerialization; its log implicitly underwrites the timing Krag asserts.
The spare bed in the holodeck guest quarters functions as stage dressing that establishes intimacy and motive in the initial recreation; its rumpled linens anchor the scene's private atmosphere that Krag later reframes as circumstantial motive for violence.
Riker's handheld phaser is the pivotal piece of alleged evidence: in Krag's hypothetical replay the holographic Riker produces the phaser and fires a focused pulse at the reactor, visually linking the weapon to the subsequent explosion and converting a disputed action into an apparent causal trigger.
The station reactor is the narrative target of the alleged phaser discharge; Krag's reconstruction shows the phaser's trajectory aimed toward the reactor, framing it as the locus of the explosion that follows three seconds later.
Tanugan lab ground computers supply the telemetry and archived sensor logs Krag overlays onto the holodeck program; they are presented as the authoritative source showing a focused energy pulse timed at transport dematerialization, enabling Krag's reconstruction.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
Apgar Science Station is the off‑stage, planet‑side locus of the physical explosion; its reactor failure and ground computer logs supply the forensic pattern Krag uses to make his overlay, anchoring the holodeck reconstruction to a tragic, technical reality.
The holodeck's Main Laboratory Area (reconstructed) is the primary stage for the later part of the recon, where holographic Riker and Apgar appear and where Krag replays the hypothetical 'Krag One'—it functions as a clinical, accusatory arena where technical readouts wash faces in cyan and testimony becomes spectacle.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Krag's damning holographic evidence of Riker firing a phaser is later revealed to be a misinterpretation of Apgar's backfired weapon."
"Krag's damning holographic evidence of Riker firing a phaser is later revealed to be a misinterpretation of Apgar's backfired weapon."
"Krag's damning holographic evidence of Riker firing a phaser is later revealed to be a misinterpretation of Apgar's backfired weapon."
Themes This Exemplifies
Thematic resonance and meaning
Key Dialogue
"RIKER: "I fired no phaser aboard the science station.""
"KRAG: "Our readings are quite clear about it. Information retrieved from the lab's ground computers show that a focused energy pulse was fired just as Commander Riker began transport. Furthermore, by analyzing the trajectory and angle, it is clear that it came from the very spot that Commander Riker was standing.""
"KRAG: "Computer, play hypothetical Krag One.""