The Void Claims Its First Connection
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
A fragmented RIKER'S COM VOICE — '... having difficulties...' — stutters and then the communication garbles and cuts out, yanking Picard from routine into sharp concern.
Picard snaps into action, calling 'Number One, come in!' and freezes as silence answers, the absence of response tightening dread across the bridge.
Picard orders the Transporter Room to beam the away team back immediately, converting fear into decisive command as he races to retrieve them.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Contained alarm beneath procedural focus
Reports technical failure with disciplined efficiency despite the life-or-death stakes, embodying Starfleet's trained response to crisis.
- • Execute transporter protocols with maximum efficiency
- • Diagnose the cause of system failure
- • Transporter systems are fundamentally reliable when properly maintained
- • Lost lock indicates extraordinary external interference
Surface-level professionalism masking accelerating alarm
Picard transitions from professional concern to urgent command, pivoting rapidly between communication attempts and emergency protocols as the situation deteriorates.
- • Protect his stranded officers from imminent danger
- • Assess limitations of Enterprise's technology against the void
- • Starfleet protocols can mitigate most crises when properly executed
- • Losing contact poses existential threat beyond mere mechanical failure
Focused tension with escalating concern
Riker's voice broadcasts mid-crisis report before cutting out abruptly mid-sentence, his fading transmission leaving strategic ambiguity.
- • Maintain command presence despite environmental destabilization
- • Communicate critical situational updates to Enterprise
- • The Yamato's systems are malfunctioning unpredictably
- • Enterprise remains their best chance for extraction
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The bridge serves as the nerve center for crisis response, with whispered updates and urgent commands bouncing between stations as the crew confronts their technological helplessness.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Riker's fragmented comms from the away team precipitate the Transporter Chief's report that they have lost lock—turning confusion about the team's status into confirmed operational failure."
"Riker's fragmented comms from the away team precipitate the Transporter Chief's report that they have lost lock—turning confusion about the team's status into confirmed operational failure."
Key Dialogue
"PICARD: Number One, come in!"
"TRANSPORTER CHIEF'S COM VOICE: I have lost the lock on them."