The Millisecond Gamble — Riker's Moral Leap
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Geordi’s quip hardens into fear as he questions the warp jump’s reliability; Data concedes failure means catastrophe, and Worf states the terminal cost.
Picard refuses to order the gamble and leaves the choice to Riker, who accepts it anyway.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Derisive and intellectually superior, using contempt to unsettle and test the crew's confidence.
Expresses scornful skepticism, attempting to undercut Starfleet's improvisation with Zakdorn strategic contempt and an implication that relocation will void the Federation's plan.
- • Demonstrate the Zakdorn intellectual vantage by exposing perceived weaknesses in the plan.
- • Force commander hesitation or reveal moral indecision that can be critiqued strategically.
- • Tactical superiority is revealed through dispassionate critique rather than emotional commitment.
- • Provocation elicits mistakes from less disciplined commanders.
Resolute yet conflicted — determined to preserve moral authority while protecting his crew and trusting subordinates to bear hard choices.
Refuses to give a direct order to carry out the lethal deception, frames the moral choice, delegates responsibility to Riker, sets a precise four‑minute timing mark and orchestrates the group's consent.
- • Avoid directly issuing an order that would make him morally culpable for potential deaths.
- • Ensure the plan proceeds with clear authorization and disciplined timing if accepted by his subordinate.
- • Command responsibility includes moral stewardship, not just tactical convenience.
- • Delegation of risk to a subordinate can preserve institutional and personal ethics when lives hang in the balance.
Analytic and composed on the surface; quietly apprehensive about mechanical fragility, acknowledging potential fatal outcomes without theatricality.
Delivers the cold tactical premise and a precise, mechanistic plan for the deception, specifying torpedo timing and the millisecond warp trigger while noting catastrophic failure modes.
- • Present an executable tactical solution that accomplishes the mission objective of removing the Hathaway from Ferengi interest.
- • Clearly communicate the technical constraints and risks so command can make an informed moral decision.
- • Optimal outcomes rely on precise timing and reliable systems rather than moral posturing.
- • Honest presentation of risk is a duty of an officer, even if it makes the plan morally fraught.
Stoic and severe; acceptance of lethal risk framed as honorable duty rather than panic.
States bluntly that failure equals death, assesses the short deception window, and receives assignment to prepare a counter‑surprise aboard the Hathaway.
- • Prepare a tactical surprise to exploit the brief deception window against the Kreechta/Ferengi.
- • Minimize casualties by ensuring any follow‑up engagement favors the Federation side.
- • Honor and duty require confronting mortal risk directly rather than shirking danger.
- • A short deception can be decisive if immediately exploited by prepared countermeasures.
Steely acceptance with an undercurrent of tension — willing to assume risk for crew and mission, masking doubts with wry bravado.
Accepts the harrowing responsibility to captain the Hathaway through the deceptive warp jump, gives the practical counterpoint about needing only minutes and commits to preparing an immediate follow‑up action.
- • Protect the Hathaway's crew and the Enterprise by executing the deception to divert the Ferengi.
- • Assume clear authority and responsibility so Picard's moral stance is preserved while action continues.
- • Command involves accepting personal responsibility for decisions others might not make.
- • Calculated risk is preferable to inaction when lives and mission objectives are threatened.
Anxious and frank — professional concern about engineering reliability that borders on dread at the human cost of malfunction.
Voices technical doubts and moral discomfort about relying on an uncertain warp jump, warns that the plan could fail and underscores the precise millisecond dependency.
- • Ensure command understands the engineering limitations and the grave consequences of failure.
- • Advocate for maximum technical safeguards and clarity about risk acceptance.
- • System reliability cannot be assumed; engineering must be consulted and its warnings heeded.
- • Open technical honesty preserves lives even when the plan is strategically desirable.
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The ship's computer (represented by the enterprise subroutine) is assigned the precise timing role: it will trigger the Hathaway's warp jump a millisecond before photon torpedo detonation, converting an analytic plan into an automated temporal sequence.
The Hathaway is the intended target and instrument of the deception: it will act as though destroyed by executing a programmed two‑second warp jump a millisecond before torpedo detonation, creating the illusion of destruction for enemy sensors.
The Enterprise warp engines are cited as the critical technical component: the Hathaway's brief warp jump depends on their functioning. Data and Geordi emphasize that if those engines fail, the deception becomes a real catastrophe.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The Observation Lounge functions as the confined, deliberative stage where senior officers weigh moral responsibility and technical risk. Its private, formal atmosphere allows Picard to frame the ethical choice, Data to outline cold mechanics, and Riker to accept command responsibility.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
No narrative connections mapped yet
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Key Dialogue
"DATA: At the captain's signal, we will fire four photon torpedoes directly at the Hathaway. A millisecond before detonation, the computer will trigger your warp jump."
"PICARD: Captain Riker, I can't order you to do this..."
"RIKER: (a beat) What the hell. Nobody said life was safe."