The Vault Seals—And So Does Fate
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
A crewmember constructs a massive containment area in the center of the cargo bay, physically preparing the vault engineered to hold five hundred and twelve volatile modules.
Geordi checks on progress and a crewmember confirms the containment is finished and the modules are ready to insert, shifting the moment from briefing to immediate operational readiness.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Professional resolve over a current of uneasy awe—he recognizes this cage may be humanity’s shield or its shroud.
Stands in the cargo bay center, visored gaze sweeping the enormous containment lattice like an architect judging final craftsmanship. His voice carries the crisp confidence of newly-promoted authority. He accepts the manifest between gloved fingers yet doesn’t open it, holding the clipboard like it’s radioactive, waiting for the unnamed crewmember to cue the next movement.
- • Confirm containment readiness so plague transfer can begin without delay.
- • Maintain crew morale by treating lethal cargo as routine engineering problem.
- • Engineering precision must trump emotional panic when handling bio-apocalypse cargo.
- • Starfleet protocol dictates calm delivery despite personal misgivings.
Flat affect masking bone-deep dread; he knows each module is filled with enough death to wipe decks clean.
Kneels beside the last strut, delivering the manifest to Geordi with mechanical detachment. His face is a mask of practiced neutrality seen only in workers who build coffins for a living. The phrase 'Finished, just waiting...' comes out like a reflex born from too much drill and too little sleep.
- • Complete final welds so he can retreat to a radiation-scrubbed shower.
- • Report status without revealing the tremor in his hands.
- • Once hands over the manifest, any remaining risk belongs to command.
- • Quantified danger in numbered modules is easier to carry than the patient names behind each.
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
Twelve containment racks await their lethal tenants—512 crystalline time bombs suspended in titanium cradles. The modules themselves are not yet inserted; they lurk dockside as spectral promises. Their silence weighs more than bulkheads.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
Serves as both birthing room and necropolis. Overhead floods bleach every shadow; welding chatter has faded to a hush. Five stories above, catwalks cast cage-like shadows across the chamber floor, metaphor plating literal.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Geordi's technical briefing and insistence on a purpose-built containment enclosure leads to the physical construction of the containment area in Cargo Deck Five."
"Geordi's technical briefing and insistence on a purpose-built containment enclosure leads to the physical construction of the containment area in Cargo Deck Five."
"The completed containment installation (and the ship's ensuing readiness) escalates command to accept the grave risk of transporting the Plasma Plague—Picard's log and decision to proceed follow directly from operational readiness."
"The completed containment installation (and the ship's ensuing readiness) escalates command to accept the grave risk of transporting the Plasma Plague—Picard's log and decision to proceed follow directly from operational readiness."
"The completed containment installation (and the ship's ensuing readiness) escalates command to accept the grave risk of transporting the Plasma Plague—Picard's log and decision to proceed follow directly from operational readiness."
"The completed containment installation (and the ship's ensuing readiness) escalates command to accept the grave risk of transporting the Plasma Plague—Picard's log and decision to proceed follow directly from operational readiness."
"The completed containment installation (and the ship's ensuing readiness) escalates command to accept the grave risk of transporting the Plasma Plague—Picard's log and decision to proceed follow directly from operational readiness."
Key Dialogue
"PICARD (V.O.): Every hour we delay, thousands die."
"CREWMEMBER: Finished, just waiting to insert the modules."