S1E17
· Home Soil

Terraforming Tour Shattered by Fatal Sabotage

The Enterprise away team arrives at Velara III's terraforming base, where Luisa Kim enthusiastically presents the project’s delicate stages, highlighting the painstaking effort to transform a barren planet into a thriving biosphere. Beneath the optimism, tension simmers as Mandl’s terse oversight and Malencon’s anxiety over erratic hydraulic power surges hint at underlying troubles. Counselor Troi’s empathic instincts sense concealed fear and urgency among the terraformers, culminating in an abrupt, alarming warning: laser blasts erupt, signaling a deadly sabotage. Malencon, ordered to the hydraulics chamber, is thrust into imminent peril, shifting the mission from hopeful exploration to a desperate crisis. This event marks a critical turning point, exposing the fragile veneer of control and foreshadowing the deadly consequences of Velara III's hidden dangers.

Plot Beats

The narrative micro-steps within this event

2

Mandl displays detailed vegetation growth plans, underscoring the painstaking, exacting nature of the terraforming project, but Troi registers a sudden emotional shock, sensing imminent danger.

clinical precision to alarm ['terraforming base control room']

Troi’s alarm escalates into a warning siren and laser blasts erupt inside the base; chaos erupts as Malencon’s screams shatter the tense calm, and the away team rushes to the hydraulics chamber in a desperate response.

tension to terror ['hydraulics chamber']

Who Was There

Characters present in this moment

9

Focused and vigilant, ready to act decisively.

Introduced formally by Riker, maintains professional alertness, accompanies the team into the base, and promptly responds to the alarm, preparing for security threats.

Goals in this moment
  • Ensure team security within the volatile environment.
  • Respond immediately to emergent threats.
Active beliefs
  • Security must be proactive in crisis.
  • Decisive action preserves lives.
Character traits
professional alert decisive command presence
Follow Tasha Yar's journey

Methodically alert, processing data while preparing for emergent threats.

Engages analytically with Malencon's hydraulic plans, exchanges technical queries with Bensen about his android nature, and accompanies the team to respond swiftly to the sabotage alarm.

Goals in this moment
  • Diagnose the cause of hydraulic malfunctions.
  • Support team safety and uncover sabotage details.
Active beliefs
  • Logical analysis is key to understanding crises.
  • Technical precision can mitigate emerging dangers.
Character traits
analytical alert technical mastery calm under pressure
Follow Data's journey

Cautiously optimistic, masking underlying concern about the project's fragility.

Leads the Enterprise away team with composed curiosity and diplomatic tact, introduces team members, engages warmly yet professionally with Luisa Kim, observes tensions with Mandl and Malencon, and promptly reacts to Troi's alarm and the ensuing crisis.

Goals in this moment
  • Assess the terraforming project’s viability firsthand.
  • Maintain team safety and order amid growing unease.
Active beliefs
  • Scientific exploration can reveal critical truths.
  • Open communication and diplomacy are vital to mission success.
Character traits
curious concerned diplomatic steady leadership
Follow William Riker's journey

Alarmed and deeply concerned, sensing imminent danger beneath the surface calm.

Utilizes empathic abilities to sense hidden fears and tensions among terraformers, perceiving Malencon’s distress before the sabotage alarm, sounding a clear warning to the team.

Goals in this moment
  • Protect the team by anticipating threats.
  • Understand emotional states to guide leadership decisions.
Active beliefs
  • Empathy reveals hidden truths vital to safety.
  • Psychological insight can prevent disaster.
Character traits
empathetic perceptive intuitive alert
Follow Deanna Troi's journey

Concerned yet composed, driven to quickly pinpoint mechanical failures.

Monitors hydraulic anomalies alongside Malencon, discusses potential saline conductivity issues, and swiftly mobilizes with the team after the alarm sounds.

Goals in this moment
  • Identify technical causes of hydraulic surges.
  • Coordinate rapid response to escalating sabotage.
Active beliefs
  • Engineering solutions can stabilize critical systems.
  • Timely intervention is essential to crew safety.
Character traits
focused concerned collaborative technical expertise
Follow Geordi La …'s journey

Strained and defensive, masking fear beneath authoritative exterior.

Project Director Mandl arrives abruptly, exerts terse authority, apologizes for earlier brusqueness, stresses the tight timetable and importance of Malencon’s task, orders him to hydraulics chamber, and stands on alert as the alarm sounds.

Goals in this moment
  • Keep the project on schedule despite sabotage.
  • Maintain control over the unfolding crisis.
Active beliefs
  • Delays or failures are unacceptable at this critical phase.
  • Command and order are essential to survival.
Character traits
tense evasive commanding impatient
Follow Kurt Mandl's journey

Anxious and tense, burdened by responsibility and foreboding danger.

Anxiously monitors erratic power surges affecting hydraulic probes, visibly disturbed by technical failures, reluctantly obeys Mandl’s order to proceed to the hydraulics chamber just before the sabotage attack.

Goals in this moment
  • Resolve hydraulic malfunctions to keep the project on track.
  • Comply with leadership despite personal unease.
Active beliefs
  • Technical issues threaten the entire project.
  • Obedience to command is necessary despite risks.
Character traits
nervous guarded dedicated vulnerable
Follow Arthur Malencon's journey

Optimistic but subtly aware of the project's fragility.

Warmly welcomes the away team with hopeful enthusiasm, passionately explains terraforming phases and the vision of transforming Velara III, but shares a subtle attraction toward Riker amidst underlying project tensions.

Goals in this moment
  • Showcase scientific progress and inspire confidence.
  • Foster goodwill between terraformers and Starfleet visitors.
Active beliefs
  • Terraforming is a noble, transformative endeavor.
  • Human ingenuity can triumph over barren worlds.
Character traits
enthusiastic hopeful open passionate
Follow Luisa Kim's journey

Wary and defensive, masking concern with curt professionalism.

Exhibits guarded, tense demeanor; interacts briefly with Data regarding his android nature; halts technical speculation about power surges; stands alongside Malencon during growing crisis.

Goals in this moment
  • Protect project integrity by dismissing uncertain theories.
  • Maintain operational control amid instability.
Active beliefs
  • Technical anomalies must have tangible causes.
  • Distrust toward outsiders and new technologies is prudent.
Character traits
guarded tense skeptical pragmatic
Follow Bjorn Bensen's journey

Objects Involved

Significant items in this scene

4
Engineering Control Computer Consoles

Computer screens display detailed terraforming data and hydraulic blueprints, enabling Luisa Kim to visually narrate the project phases and assisting Data and Geordi in analyzing system anomalies. Mandl manipulates the data to emphasize the critical vegetation graphs, underscoring the exacting nature of the operation.

Before: Active, displaying hydraulic system data and terraforming progress …
After: Remains active but potentially disrupted by the unfolding …
Before: Active, displaying hydraulic system data and terraforming progress visuals.
After: Remains active but potentially disrupted by the unfolding crisis.
Laser Weapons

Laser blasts erupt as the weaponized expression of sabotage, inflicting a sudden, violent threat that transforms the terraforming base into a battleground and forces the away team into immediate defensive action.

Before: Not active; weapons secured or idle within the …
After: Active, firing in a hostile sabotage attack, threatening …
Before: Not active; weapons secured or idle within the facility.
After: Active, firing in a hostile sabotage attack, threatening personnel and infrastructure.
Hydraulic Probes

The hydraulic probes embedded in the terraforming base’s system are central to the technical problems discussed, their erratic power surges signifying the malfunction threatening the subsurface water pumping phase. They serve as the focal point of Malencon and Geordi’s diagnostic efforts and the source of tension prompting Mandl’s urgent orders.

Before: Functional but experiencing unexplained erratic power surges causing …
After: Status unclear post-alarm and sabotage; presumed compromised or …
Before: Functional but experiencing unexplained erratic power surges causing operational instability.
After: Status unclear post-alarm and sabotage; presumed compromised or under threat.
Velara III Terraforming Base Alarm Siren

The base’s alarm siren suddenly blares, sharply alerting all present to immediate danger as laser blasts commence, transitioning the atmosphere from cautious observation to urgent crisis response.

Before: Silent, installed and ready to trigger emergency alerts.
After: Actively sounding alarm, signaling sabotage and danger.
Before: Silent, installed and ready to trigger emergency alerts.
After: Actively sounding alarm, signaling sabotage and danger.

Location Details

Places and their significance in this event

2
Hydraulics Chamber

The hydraulics chamber serves as the pivotal site of technical focus and impending danger, a cramped, mechanical hub throbbing with erratic power surges. It is where Malencon is commanded to go, placing him directly in the path of the sabotage attack, symbolizing the fragile intersection of human control and hostile forces.

Atmosphere Claustrophobic, tense, and ominously charged with mechanical vibrations and looming threat.
Function Critical facility housing vulnerable hydraulic systems; battleground for sabotage confrontation.
Symbolism Represents the vulnerability of human technological mastery over alien environments.
Access Restricted to authorized technical personnel; guarded but vulnerable due to sabotage.
Low, utilitarian lighting casting harsh shadows. Persistent low rumble and metallic clanks from hydraulic machinery.
Terraforming Planet Velara III

Velara III is the barren, lifeless planet undergoing transformation, its stark desolation contrasting with the tense, intimate atmosphere within the terraforming base. The planet’s silent expanse underscores the high stakes of the terraforming effort and the hidden dangers lurking beneath its surface.

Atmosphere Silent and desolate, evoking isolation and the monumental challenge of transformation.
Function Setting and object of terraforming project; silent witness to unfolding sabotage and conflict.
Symbolism Embodies the theme of renewal shadowed by unforeseen consequences.
Access Open atmosphere but restricted zones around the terraforming base for safety and security.
Yellow-ochre barren landscape visible through station windows (implied). Subsurface saltwater deposits critical to terraforming phases.

Narrative Connections

How this event relates to others in the story

What led here 5
Causal

"Mandl orders Malencon to attend the hydraulics chamber immediately, directly leading Malencon to the fatal encounter with the sabotaged laser system."

Arrival at Velara III and Unsettling Terraforming Revelations
S1E17 · Home Soil
Causal

"Mandl orders Malencon to attend the hydraulics chamber immediately, directly leading Malencon to the fatal encounter with the sabotaged laser system."

Tensions Mount Over Hydraulic Failures and Imminent Crisis
S1E17 · Home Soil
Escalation

"Mandl's concealed fear evolves into abrupt and tense commands to Malencon, heightening tension and foreshadowing imminent danger within the terraforming base."

Tense Arrival and Veiled Anxiety at Velara III
S1E17 · Home Soil
Escalation

"Mandl's concealed fear evolves into abrupt and tense commands to Malencon, heightening tension and foreshadowing imminent danger within the terraforming base."

Mandl’s Rising Fear and Reluctant Compliance
S1E17 · Home Soil
Escalation

"Mandl's concealed fear evolves into abrupt and tense commands to Malencon, heightening tension and foreshadowing imminent danger within the terraforming base."

Picard Overcomes Mandl’s Reluctance to Authorize Away Team
S1E17 · Home Soil
What this causes 6
Causal

"Mandl orders Malencon to attend the hydraulics chamber immediately, directly leading Malencon to the fatal encounter with the sabotaged laser system."

Arrival at Velara III and Unsettling Terraforming Revelations
S1E17 · Home Soil
Causal

"Mandl orders Malencon to attend the hydraulics chamber immediately, directly leading Malencon to the fatal encounter with the sabotaged laser system."

Tensions Mount Over Hydraulic Failures and Imminent Crisis
S1E17 · Home Soil
NARRATIVELY_FOLLOWS

"The chaos of Malencon's death leads Data and Tasha to enter the hydraulics room for recovery, initiating the deeper investigation into the sabotage."

Hydraulics Power Shutdown and Laser Sabotage Escalation
S1E17 · Home Soil
NARRATIVELY_FOLLOWS

"The chaos of Malencon's death leads Data and Tasha to enter the hydraulics room for recovery, initiating the deeper investigation into the sabotage."

Data Confronts Deadly Sabotage in Laser Drill
S1E17 · Home Soil
NARRATIVELY_FOLLOWS

"The chaos of Malencon's death leads Data and Tasha to enter the hydraulics room for recovery, initiating the deeper investigation into the sabotage."

Data Alone Confronts Sabotage Amid Laser Barrage
S1E17 · Home Soil
NARRATIVELY_FOLLOWS

"The chaos of Malencon's death leads Data and Tasha to enter the hydraulics room for recovery, initiating the deeper investigation into the sabotage."

Picard Demands Urgent Status Amid Deadly Sabotage
S1E17 · Home Soil

Key Dialogue

"LUISA: "Welcome to Velara III. Remember it as it is now, because in a couple of decades you won't recognize the place.""
"MANDL: "We are set to step up to full conversion, immediately. Shouldn't you be in the hydraulics chamber, Arthur?""
"TROI: "Malencon. He's in trouble.""