Bluff Set in Motion — Picard's Emergency Call
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Worf’s urgent hail detonates the stakes: Starbase 515 reports Picard is close to death, stunning Riker and spiking pressure on the rescue.
Riker snaps to command—“Be ready!”—and moves out with Data while Sonya attacks the controls, priming the anti-matter blender for the bluff.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Incredulous at first, then determined and focused as she transitions into action to implement the bluff despite the sudden escalation.
Begins skeptical and questioning about the plan's feasibility, then accepts responsibility, immediately moving to operate engineering systems (anti‑matter blender) to simulate weapons effects and prepare the staged display.
- • Produce a convincing nonlethal simulation of weapons fire to intimidate the Pakleds.
- • Execute engineering procedures quickly and accurately to support the away team's safety.
- • Maintain engineering control even as command is forced to depart for a medical emergency.
- • A well‑timed engineering display can alter enemy perception and behavior.
- • Riker and Geordi are competent and worth supporting with technical risk.
- • Practical technical implementation is the linchpin separating theory from success.
Clinical and detached in presentation, but methodical concern is implied by the urgency of his technical caveats.
Provides sensor analysis and tactical framing: confirms progressive weapons potential, emphasizes timing and intent, reports the Pakleds heard the fabricated story about Geordi; remains clinical and precise before departing with Riker.
- • Supply accurate sensor and timing data to ensure the bluff's success.
- • Clarify technical constraints so the operation minimizes risk.
- • Support Riker's decision-making with precise information.
- • Precise timing and clear intent are critical for deception to work operationally.
- • Sensor data can meaningfully predict enemy capability and reaction.
- • Logical assessment should guide risky tactical improvisations.
Alert and grave; his transmission carries the weight of an urgent duty call rather than personal panic.
Interrupts remotely (V.O.) from the bridge to deliver an emergency summons: informs Riker that Starbase Five One Five reports Captain Picard is close to death, conveying urgent, protocol‑critical information.
- • Ensure command is immediately informed of a high‑priority medical emergency.
- • Prompt appropriate chain‑of‑command reaction in accordance with Starfleet protocol.
- • Starfleet emergency summonses require immediate attention and action.
- • Chain of command and timely notification save lives.
Focused and tactically confident while planning, then abruptly stunned and concerned when told of Picard's condition; urgency quickly overlays deliberate planning.
Leads the rescue planning in Engineering: reassures Sonya about Geordi's improvisational capacity, confirms the bluff strategy, instructs Sonya to prepare, and reacts stunned to Worf's medical summons before exiting immediately with Data.
- • Execute a convincing nonlethal bluff to enable Geordi's extraction from the Mondor.
- • Protect Enterprise crew while minimizing escalation and casualties.
- • Respond immediately to the medical emergency without abandoning the rescue.
- • Geordi's engineering skill and adaptability will allow him to improvise under pressure.
- • The Pakleds can be manipulated by perceived intelligence/strength signals.
- • Command must balance multiple lives and prioritize according to immediacy and protocol.
Implicitly pressured and endangered; determined to survive and assist the rescue through improvisation.
Referenced as the stranded chief engineer on the Mondor: the entire bluff and timing hinge on his ability to improvise under duress and interpret the staged signals from the Enterprise to neutralize or distract the Pakleds.
- • Use engineering skill to disrupt or disable Pakled systems as opportunity allows.
- • Interpret Enterprise's signals and time his actions to maximize the bluff's credibility.
- • His technical ability gives him a fighting chance despite being outnumbered or outgunned.
- • The Enterprise will act to recover him and will coordinate with his improvised efforts.
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The Main Engineering pool table functions as immediate visual set dressing and a pragmatic work surface: Sonya looks up from it at the opening of the exchange, using its presence to ground the scene's casual‑to‑urgent shift. It marks Industrial Engineering's informal work rhythm before she moves to the core apparatus.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The Bridge functions offstage as the communications node: Worf transmits an emergency message to Engineering from here, and its formal protocols momentarily override the tactical discussion belowdecks.
Main Engineering is the operational stage where tactical improvisation is engineered: consoles hum, technicians cluster, and Sonya moves from the pool table to the anti‑matter systems. It is both a technical workshop and moral fulcrum where command decisions are translated into risky technical actions.
The Mondor is the disabled Pakled ship that houses Geordi and the adversary systems; it is the far site of the rescue and the target of the staged bluff. Its failing systems and sparking interiors intensify the risk to the away team and make timing essential.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Sonya doubts the plan but steps up and executes the decisive hydrogen bluff that saves Geordi."
"News that Picard is near death heightens pressure, yet Riker doubles down on saving Geordi first."
"News that Picard is near death heightens pressure, yet Riker doubles down on saving Geordi first."
Key Dialogue
"SONYA: Are you sure he can do it? He's an engineer, not a weapons specialist."
"DATA: Ongoing scanning indicates progressive weapons potential. The timing will be crucial. He must correctly interpret our intentions."
"WORF (V.O.): I am receiving an emergency summons from Starbase five one five... Captain Picard is close to death!"