Snared at the Oasis: First Contact with the Uxbridges
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
The away team materializes near an intact house on a devastated planet, immediately scanning for anomalies.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Joyful relief at being found, layered with desperate fear about being the only survivors and anxious dependence on the rescuers' help.
An elderly, trusting occupant who appears at the door, embraces rescuers with tears and hope, gently scolds Kevin for suspicion, and confesses the couple's loneliness and fear about other survivors.
- • Secure assurance that help has arrived and that others may be saved
- • Comfort and humanize the encounter to reduce Kevin's alarm
- • Rescuers are trustworthy and represent hope
- • They are likely among the last survivors and need rescue
Neutral curiosity expressed through precise information delivery; slight delight at utility of memorized data, contrasted with not sensing the emotional weight of the revelation.
Analytically silent at first, then astonishes occupants and crew by reciting the couple's colony registry details from memory, converting a humanitarian rescue into a precise identification and deepening the mystery of their survival.
- • Provide factual, relevant identification data to assist the team's assessment
- • Reduce ambiguity by supplying verifiable background information
- • Data accurately reduces uncertainty and aids decision-making
- • Memorized registry information is ethically appropriate to use in rescue contexts
Alert and ready for use of force; restrained frustration when denied permission to act, loyal to command and crew safety.
Already scanning the house with his tricorder, reports two life-sign locations and a nearby nonfunctional phaser; warns Riker and offers to incapacitate the armed occupant before Riker declines.
- • Neutralize potential threat to the away team if necessary
- • Maintain tactical awareness and provide sensor-based options to command
- • Immediate threats should be neutralized to protect the team
- • Command decisions must be followed even if personally tentative
Surface calm and professional; privately wary and investigative—careful not to alienate potential survivors while probing for truth.
Leads the away team; leaves cover to attempt a diplomatic knock, is hoisted into a tree by a concealed snare, maintains composure and introduces himself to the armed occupant while de-escalating Worf's impulse to use force.
- • Make peaceful first contact and secure the occupants
- • Determine how and why the house survived and whether the occupants are implicated
- • Starfleet rescue protocol must prioritize lives while gathering information
- • The survival of the house and occupants is unlikely to be random and merits investigation
Concerned and gentle; professionally focused on assessing health while empathizing with the couple's obvious trauma.
Performs a medical scan of the couple with a tricorder, asks about other survivors, and maintains an apologetic clinical distance while showing concern for their physical and emotional condition.
- • Determine the couple's physical condition and any immediate medical needs
- • Collect identifying information for Starfleet records and rescue logistics
- • Medical assessment must be prompt even amid tactical uncertainty
- • Civilians should be treated with dignity and empathy during rescue operations
Professional focus with underlying concern for team safety; mildly guilty at missing the snare before it triggered.
Performs sensor observations from cover, notices the concealed snare too late to prevent it, then returns to assist in freeing Riker; supplies technical awareness and supports the de-escalation effort.
- • Ensure Riker's physical safety and extricate him from the trap
- • Support the away team's investigation with accurate sensor data
- • Technological scanning and observation reduce risk in field operations
- • The couple are likely traumatized civilians who need medical and emotional care
Alert and pragmatic; focused on procedure and the safety of team members and civilians.
The generic away team materializes into cover, provides immediate support when Riker is snared, forms the protective perimeter, and follows leaders' directions to de-escalate and render assistance.
- • Extricate Riker and secure the perimeter
- • Assist in the rescue and initial assessment of survivors
- • Protocol-driven actions will minimize casualties
- • Immediate support is necessary to preserve lives and gather evidence
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
Cradled by Worf, the tricorder scans the dark interior and locks onto two life signs and a nearby weapon, feeding tactical data that shapes the team's cautious approach and influences Worf's offer to incapacitate the armed occupant.
A camouflaged foot-snare concealed near the house entrance triggers as Riker steps forward, hauling him into a tree by the ankle. Functionally it converts a peaceful approach into an alarmed first contact and physically forces the crew to reveal themselves and their intentions.
Although not physically present in the scene, the Rana IV colony register functions narratively as the source of Data's memorized identification details; its contents transform the meeting into a verifiable identification and deepen the mystery about why this couple alone survived.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
Rana IV functions as the devastated setting whose widespread destruction frames the encounter's urgency; the intact house contrasts with the planet's ash and amplifies the crew's investigative suspicion about selective survival.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Riker's suspicions about the house's preservation foreshadow Picard's gambit."
"Riker's suspicions about the house's preservation foreshadow Picard's gambit."
"Riker's suspicions about the house's preservation foreshadow Picard's gambit."
Themes This Exemplifies
Thematic resonance and meaning
Key Dialogue
"KEVIN: "Who's there? Who are you people?""
"DATA: "Botanists. Originally from the aquatic city New Martim Vaz in the Atlantic Ocean on Earth. Residents of the Rana Four colony for five years.""
"KEVIN: "They came in a spaceship so big you could see it up in orbit. They took our world apart piece by piece.""