Data's Draw — Humiliation as Victory
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
In Ten-Forward, Data and Kolrami drive Strategema into the stratosphere; the counter freezes at 35,693 as Kolrami rips free in shock.
Data asks why the game stopped; Kolrami, shaking with rage, cries mockery and flees as the crew swarms Data with cheers.
Pressed by friends, Data reframes the contest: he played for a draw, passing up advances to hold balance and, in theory, challenge forever.
Pulaski pushes; Data demurs, then lets the truth flash with a grin—“I busted him up”—and Ten-Forward erupts around his earned satisfaction.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Relieved and pleased—gratified by the successful outcome and the crew's safety.
Burke is present among the gathered crew, taking in the spectacle while sharing in the relief; he remains alert but participates in the celebratory atmosphere.
- • Celebrate the crisis' resolution with colleagues
- • Confirm that command decisions were effective
- • Maintain situational awareness even during celebration
- • Crew morale is improved by public celebration
- • Operational success justifies risk taken
- • Recognition of individual contributions strengthens teams
Encouraging, pleased and almost maternal in her delight at Data's social victory.
Pulaski barges into Ten‑Forward with Riker, pushes through the crowd to embrace Data, prods him to accept the crew's interpretation that he has 'beaten' Kolrami, and savors the moment with characteristic blunt affection.
- • Ensure Data receives the crew’s emotional validation
- • Use the victory to repair any morale damage earlier in the crisis
- • Draw Data toward human social norms of recognition
- • Social praise is important for psychological health and morale
- • Data benefits from being acknowledged like any crew member
- • Public victories should be celebrated to unify the team
Humiliated and enraged; cognitive dissonance between expected dominance and public failure produces panic and fury.
Kolrami sits opposite Data, rapidly moving through plays until the counter skyrockets; when the game is suspended he reacts with visible rage, shame, and confusion, then abruptly exits Ten‑Forward in public disgrace.
- • Restore his reputation by winning the rematch
- • Demonstrate intellectual superiority over Data and the Enterprise crew
- • Avoid any public loss or diminution before Starfleet observers
- • Public demonstrations of superiority are essential to personal and cultural standing
- • Being shown inferior in a public forum is intolerable
- • Opponents will play to conventional victory and can be outmaneuvered in known ways
Elated, triumphant and relieved—a collective release after the shipwide crisis.
The Ten‑Forward Cheering Crew surges to surround Data, audibly celebrating as the digital counter climbs and Kolrami departs; their physical enthusiasm transforms the intellectual duel into communal catharsis.
- • Celebrate an underdog victory and communal survival
- • Reintegrate crew morale after tension
- • Publicly affirm Data as a member of the group
- • Shared celebration strengthens identity
- • Public vindication heals earlier anxieties
- • Recognition should be visible and emphatic
Excited and inspired—eager to learn from the tactical ingenuity on display.
Wesley watches the counter climb from the Hathaway viewscreen earlier and then stands in Ten‑Forward, elated and awed by the sustained strategic move and Data's explanation.
- • Absorb the lesson of improvisation under pressure
- • Celebrate the crew’s success
- • Connect with senior officers through shared triumph
- • Daring improvisation is educational and inspiring
- • Senior officers’ victories provide learning opportunities
- • Being present at such moments is formative
Quietly satisfied; experiencing a nascent, quasi‑human pride—calm analytical pleasure overlaid with social gratification.
Data sits at the Strategema table, deliberately reframes his objective to engineer a perpetual stalemate, explains his logic to the gathered officers, and accepts the crew's physical congratulations with a newly recognized sense of pride.
- • Demonstrate a superior strategic solution by forcing an unbreakable standoff
- • Test and extend his strategic programming by exploring non‑victory objectives
- • Retain control of the contest's terms to challenge Kolrami's assumptions
- • Kolrami expects Data to play to win; deviating will produce a predictable advantage
- • A stalemate is a valid strategic outcome worth pursuing analytically
- • Demonstrable logic and its result will be intelligible to and meaningful for the crew
Impressed and quietly proud—recognizing a strategic feat that reflects well on his allies.
Worf stands within the inner circle, visibly impressed by the unprecedented score, lending his stoic approval and linking the tactical ruse to prior Klingon‑style guile employed in the battle.
- • Affirm the crew’s honor after a risky engagement
- • Publicly acknowledge an extraordinary tactical accomplishment
- • Support Riker and Data as part of team cohesion
- • Skillful strategy is honorable and worthy of respect
- • Victories, even unconventional ones, reflect on the unit's reputation
- • Public acknowledgement strengthens alliances
Relieved, amused and proud—pleased by the successful gambit and by Data’s vindication.
Riker arrives with Pulaski, takes in the soaring digital counter, forces his way into the inner circle, congratulates Data and shares the crew's delight—acting as both celebrant and emissary of the bridge command.
- • Acknowledge and reinforce crew morale after a dangerous mission
- • Validate Data’s contribution publicly to strengthen team cohesion
- • Share in the celebratory closure after the Hathaway crisis
- • Public recognition strengthens command cohesion
- • Tactical and social victories both matter to a crew's morale
- • Data's intellectual wins deserve the same honor as human achievement
Gently encouraging and pleased—sensing Data's internal shift toward social satisfaction.
Troi leans into Data's space, offers empathic encouragement and helps coax him toward accepting the crew's celebratory framing of his action as a 'win.'
- • Help Data integrate the social meaning of his action
- • Stabilize crew morale through emotional framing
- • Facilitate Data’s acceptance of praise
- • Emotional interpretation matters for cohesion
- • Encouragement helps agents assimilate new feelings
- • Public recognition heals stress after danger
Impressed and celebratory—genuinely pleased by Data’s inventive solution and Riker’s success on Hathaway.
Geordi stands amid the crowd, energized and curious, asking Data for a technical explanation and celebrating the ingenuity that solved the crisis without conventional force.
- • Understand the technical logic behind Data's approach
- • Celebrate the crew's survival and ingenuity
- • Reinforce camaraderie after a high‑risk mission
- • Innovative problem solving is the crew's greatest asset
- • Technical explanations help demystify victory for the team
- • Recognition strengthens morale
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The Ten‑Forward digital counter functions as the visible metric of the Strategema rematch, accelerating into tens of thousands and becoming the tangible signifier of Data's endless stalemate strategy; its soaring number humiliates Kolrami and galvanizes the crowd's incredulity and jubilation.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
Ten‑Forward operates as the public arena for the Strategema rematch and the crew’s emotional release: a communal lounge where the intellectual duel becomes a social ritual, converting tactical victory into shared catharsis and restoring morale after the Hathaway crisis.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
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Themes This Exemplifies
Thematic resonance and meaning
Part of Larger Arcs
Key Dialogue
"KOLRAMI: ((shaking with rage)) Because this is not a rematch -- you have made a mockery of me."
"DATA: I simply altered my "premise" for playing."
"DATA: I busted him up."