The Hostage Gambit
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Picard orders the bridge evacuated to save lives while Data asserts he will prevent reentry and lets Geordi leave only to reveal a renewed, sinister intent with an 'evil glint,' reestablishing his lethal control.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Terror for others outweighing her own fear
Summoned as Picard's last-resort psychological weapon against Graves, approaches the viewscreen with visible apprehension when her name freezes Graves' trigger finger
- • Prevent further violence
- • Maintain connection with Graves' humanity
- • Her influence over Graves is unpredictable
- • Violence would destroy what remains of Ira's soul
Clinical detachment overlaying deep concern
Treating injured security guards in the background while monitoring the crisis, embodying professional duty amid chaos
- • Stabilize wounded personnel
- • Prepare for potential additional casualties
- • Medical duty continues despite external threats
- • Psychological instability requires specialized intervention
Surface calm masking tactical urgency
Negotiates through the viewscreen with calculated calm, switching tactics from appealing to Data's friendship to invoking Kareen when violence escalates
- • De-escalate the immediate threat to Geordi
- • Create an opening to reclaim the bridge
- • Data's true consciousness might still be accessible
- • Kareen represents Graves' psychological weak point
Unstable oscillation between Graves' murderous arrogance and Data's emerging confusion/fear
Holds Geordi at phaser-point while transmitting demands through the viewscreen, alternating between Graves' violent persona and brief flickers of Data's consciousness when Geordi is addressed directly
- • Forcibly evacuate the bridge crew
- • Test the limits of his control over Data's body
- • Asserting dominance through violence ensures obedience
- • Kareen represents his only remaining human connection
Suppressed alarm channeled into professional focus
Whispers critical tactical information about the phaser setting to Picard while monitoring the crisis through the viewscreen
- • Ensure Picard has all tactical data
- • Prepare contingency plans for bridge retaking
- • Violence could erupt at any moment
- • Their window for intervention is narrowing
Fear tempered by desperate hope when Data responds to his name
Helpless hostage with the phaser pressed to his head, attempts to reach Data's consciousness when Graves' control briefly falters
- • Survive the immediate threat
- • Provide an anchor for Data's suppressed consciousness
- • Data's friendship is real enough to break through
- • Picard will find a non-lethal solution
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
Pressed against Geordi's head as a lethal threat throughout the negotiation, its setting to 'kill' heightening the scene's tension until Kareen's intervention stays Graves' trigger finger
Transmits the tense standoff between Graves-in-Data on the bridge and Picard's team in the Observation Lounge, its shifting images reflecting the crisis' escalating stakes until abruptly deactivated by Graves
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
Though physically separate during this event, the bridge's unseen presence looms large through the viewscreen transmission as the site of Graves' violent occupation and the crew's forced evacuation under threat
The Observation Lounge becomes the strategic command center for responding to the bridge crisis, its conference table now serving as an improvisational tactical display for monitoring the hostage situation through the viewscreen
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Troi's clinical diagnosis that two personalities inhabit Data and that the alien persona is violent directly predicts/causes the subsequent hostage situation in which Data (dominated by Graves) holds Geordi at phaser-point on the viewscreen."
"Troi's clinical diagnosis that two personalities inhabit Data and that the alien persona is violent directly predicts/causes the subsequent hostage situation in which Data (dominated by Graves) holds Geordi at phaser-point on the viewscreen."
"Troi's clinical diagnosis that two personalities inhabit Data and that the alien persona is violent directly predicts/causes the subsequent hostage situation in which Data (dominated by Graves) holds Geordi at phaser-point on the viewscreen."
Part of Larger Arcs
Key Dialogue
"DATA: Maybe I should shoot one in the back just to let you know I mean business."
"PICARD: Kareen is with us! You want to talk to Kareen."
"DATA: They're all against me, Kareen. They want to drive me out of this body. To kill me!"