Picard Demands Urgent Status Amid Deadly Sabotage
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Picard demands an immediate away team report, escalating command urgency as the situation deteriorates.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Guarded and resolute, balancing urgency with careful procedure.
Lieutenant Tasha Yar accompanies Data into the hydraulics room, affixes a communicator to Malencon’s body for transport, and initiates the beam-up process, demonstrating determination and caution in a hazardous environment.
- • Secure and preserve Malencon’s body for medical analysis.
- • Support Data and ensure safe extraction from the hazardous environment.
- • Preserving the victim’s body is vital for investigation.
- • Caution is necessary to avoid additional harm during recovery.
Urgent and focused, projecting steady leadership amidst escalating danger and uncertainty.
Captain Picard provides firm, commanding oversight remotely via communicator, demanding immediate situation reports and maintaining authoritative control over the unfolding crisis despite physical absence from the hydraulics room.
- • Obtain accurate, real-time updates on the sabotage aftermath.
- • Ensure the safety of crew and maintain control of the investigation.
- • The situation is critical and requires decisive command.
- • Accurate information is essential to formulate an effective response.
Alert and focused, maintaining composure under sudden danger while prioritizing mission understanding.
Data enters the hazardous hydraulics room with Tasha Yar to secure the victim's body, then independently investigates the sabotage by reactivating the laser drill program. When the drill attacks, Data displays quick reflexes to dodge lethal blasts, demonstrating analytical curiosity and calm under mortal threat.
- • Recover Malencon’s body safely.
- • Analyze and understand the nature of the sabotage and malfunction.
- • The sabotage is active and possibly intelligent.
- • Data’s precision and calm are critical for survival and investigation.
Tense but controlled, balancing concern for the victim with mission priorities.
Commander Riker coordinates the remote shutdown of power for safety, organizes the recovery and transport of Malencon's body, maintains communication with transporter room, and manages logistical aspects with tense focus.
- • Safely retrieve Malencon’s body from a hazardous environment.
- • Maintain clear communication flow with transporter and command.
- • Safety protocols must be strictly followed to prevent further casualties.
- • Rapid recovery and medical attention are critical, even if hope is slim.
Concerned and alert, balancing technical control with immediate crisis response.
Geordi La Forge manages the main control room consoles alongside Bensen, overseeing the power shutdown and servomotor lock. He communicates with Data, responds urgently to the hostile laser drill activation, and hastens to assist on site, displaying technical mastery and concern.
- • Ensure safety by securing power and systems remotely.
- • Assist Data and contain the sabotage threat.
- • Technical measures can stabilize the sabotage situation.
- • Quick response is essential to protect personnel and equipment.
Reluctantly compliant, carrying underlying tension and responsibility.
Kurt Mandl, reluctant yet tense, agrees to accompany the team into the hydraulics room, embodying a conflicted leadership figure caught between duty and fear amid escalating sabotage and tragedy.
- • Maintain some control over the unfolding disaster.
- • Support recovery efforts despite personal reservations.
- • The situation is deteriorating beyond his comfort level.
- • Presence is necessary even when fearful.
Distressed and vulnerable, grappling with loss and the need for connection.
Luisa Kim, emotionally distressed, insists on accompanying the away team to be present for Malencon, expressing concern and empathy. She requests Kurt Mandl join, revealing her emotional investment and hope for solidarity amid tragedy.
- • Be with the team during the recovery operation.
- • Support colleagues facing the crisis first-hand.
- • Presence with the team is important for morale.
- • Togetherness can help face the emotional toll of sabotage.
Anxious and overwhelmed, silently absorbing the gravity of the sabotage's destruction.
Bjorn Bensen supports Geordi in locking down the hydraulics system and power shutdown, works the controls with visible anxiety, and follows the team’s movements closely. His presence underscores technical responsibility tempered by worry over the sabotage’s impact.
- • Assist in safely powering down hazardous systems.
- • Monitor the unfolding crisis from the control room.
- • The sabotage is beyond normal malfunction.
- • Preventing further damage requires coordinated control.
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
USS Enterprise Battle Bridge Control Console remains a distant command interface monitored indirectly as the away team operates on-site, symbolizing remote command authority and the separation between bridge command and hazardous operations.
The servomotor drive system is remotely locked by Bensen and Geordi to secure the hydraulics room during power shutdown, attempting to create a safe environment for recovery operations, highlighting the critical role of safety protocols amid sabotage.
The sabotaged laser drill, once a routine industrial tool, is reactivated by Data to understand its malfunction but turns aggressively hostile, firing lethal laser blasts at Data. It transforms from benign equipment into a direct antagonist, revealing the inorganic life-form’s dangerous interference.
Malencon's body serves as the grim focal point of the event, anchoring the investigation into sabotage. It is carefully recovered by Tasha Yar and Data, tagged with a communicator for transport to Sickbay, symbolizing the human cost of the crisis.
Portable communicators are used extensively in this event for real-time communication between the hydraulics room, main control room, transporter room, and bridge, facilitating coordination amid chaos and enabling Data and others to issue commands and reports.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
USS Enterprise Transporter Room 4 functions as the critical transfer point where Malencon’s body and later members of the away team are beamed aboard for medical examination and safety, symbolizing the threshold from danger to healing.
The hydraulics room forms the crucible of this event, housing the sabotage's physical devastation, Malencon’s body, and the hostile laser drill. It serves as a dangerous battleground where the crew confronts a lethal inorganic threat and attempts recovery amid chaos.
The main control room is the operational nerve center where Geordi and Bensen coordinate power shutdowns, monitor system statuses, and communicate with the away team, embodying the fragile command bastion amid technological crisis.
Enterprise Sickbay awaits Malencon’s body for medical examination and investigation, embodying the frontline of healing and scientific inquiry amid the fallout of sabotage and death.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Data’s narrow escape from the laser attack establishes the laser system’s hostile reprogramming and sets the stage for suspicion of sabotage directed against the Enterprise team."
"Data’s narrow escape from the laser attack establishes the laser system’s hostile reprogramming and sets the stage for suspicion of sabotage directed against the Enterprise team."
"Data’s narrow escape from the laser attack establishes the laser system’s hostile reprogramming and sets the stage for suspicion of sabotage directed against the Enterprise team."
"The chaos of Malencon's death leads Data and Tasha to enter the hydraulics room for recovery, initiating the deeper investigation into the sabotage."
"The chaos of Malencon's death leads Data and Tasha to enter the hydraulics room for recovery, initiating the deeper investigation into the sabotage."
"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’s experience with the hostile laser system leads to the realization and report that the system was deliberately reprogrammed, escalating the investigation and suspicion among the crew."
"Data’s experience with the hostile laser system leads to the realization and report that the system was deliberately reprogrammed, escalating the investigation and suspicion among the crew."
"Data’s experience with the hostile laser system leads to the realization and report that the system was deliberately reprogrammed, escalating the investigation and suspicion among the crew."
"Data’s narrow escape from the laser attack establishes the laser system’s hostile reprogramming and sets the stage for suspicion of sabotage directed against the Enterprise team."
"Data’s narrow escape from the laser attack establishes the laser system’s hostile reprogramming and sets the stage for suspicion of sabotage directed against the Enterprise team."
"Data’s narrow escape from the laser attack establishes the laser system’s hostile reprogramming and sets the stage for suspicion of sabotage directed against the Enterprise team."
Key Dialogue
"PICARD'S COM VOICE: Situation report, Number One."
"RIKER: For safety reasons, we're shutting off all power to the hydraulics room before entering to recover the body. Then we'll beam him up to Sickbay, but from the look of his wounds, it's probably hopeless."
"DATA (after dodging laser blast): Servos OFF!"
"GEORDI: La Forge to Enterprise. We have a problem!"
"BENSEN: A year's work destroyed!"
"DATA: I had no choice."