Pulaski's Truth: See the Wound, Let It Go
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Riker reduces Kyle’s trauma to career ambition—'His career'—a reflexive defense that reveals how thoroughly he has misread his father’s pain as rejection rather than survival.
Pulaski offers a final, searing piece of counsel—'if I were you, I'd jettison the emotional baggage'—framing Riker’s internal conflict as self-inflicted weight that threatens his future, preparing him for his choice on the Ares.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Steady, quietly resolute — she assumes the role of candid witness, offering clinical empathy rather than melodrama.
Pulaski sits at her desk, listens to Riker's apology, and then calmly delivers a precise, destabilizing history about Kyle's survival and their past relationship before exiting the office, leaving Riker to absorb the revelation.
- • To correct Riker's simplistic narrative about his father by revealing painful context.
- • To prompt Riker toward self-awareness and emotional clarity before he makes a career-defining choice.
- • That truth can free people from inherited resentments.
- • That Riker's defensiveness is rooted in misunderstanding and unprocessed grief, and needs to be challenged.
Initially defensive and flippant; then surprised, embarrassed, and contemplative as Pulaski dismantles his narrative and exposes emotional vulnerabilities.
Riker enters, offers an apology, attempts to maintain a guarded, ironic posture, receives Pulaski's revelation with surprise and silence, and is left quietly reflective and unmoored when Pulaski exits — visibly forced to reconsider his assumptions.
- • To smooth over an awkward confrontation and protect his professional composure.
- • To test whether his crude remarks were forgiven and to avoid deeper emotional exposure.
- • That his father's flaws are a defensible explanation for their estrangement.
- • That professional duties and appearance should take precedence over messy personal history.
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The Starship Ares is referenced as the imminent assignment that frames the stakes of the conversation. It operates narratively as the practical pressure that makes Pulaski's counsel urgent: Riker must choose to accept command, and Pulaski's disclosure is meant to influence that choice by clearing emotional obstacles.
Riker's Emotional Baggage is invoked explicitly when Pulaski counsels him to 'jettison' it. In this event the object functions as a symbolic instrument: Pulaski names the burden and offers emotional logistics for letting it go, transforming an internal weight into an actionable metaphor that reframes Riker's decision about the Ares.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
Pulaski's Office functions as the intimate, contained space where private history and blunt counsel can be exchanged away from the ship's social stage. The room's confidentiality intensifies the moment: Pulaski can speak plainly, and Riker cannot deflect with performance.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Pulaski’s counsel to 'jettison the emotional baggage' is the direct result of Riker’s misreading of Kyle’s trauma — her intervention is the emotional catalyst that prepares Riker for the anbo-jyutsu duel, where he'll finally see his father not as a rival, but as a survivor."
"Pulaski’s counsel to 'jettison the emotional baggage' is the direct result of Riker’s misreading of Kyle’s trauma — her intervention is the emotional catalyst that prepares Riker for the anbo-jyutsu duel, where he'll finally see his father not as a rival, but as a survivor."
"Riker reduces Kyle’s trauma to 'career ambition' — the same defense he’s used since childhood — showing his inability to see his father as a wounded man, not a rejector. This moment crystallizes his emotional stagnation, yet it’s precisely this misperception that Pulaski will later dismantle."
"Riker reduces Kyle’s trauma to 'career ambition' — the same defense he’s used since childhood — showing his inability to see his father as a wounded man, not a rejector. This moment crystallizes his emotional stagnation, yet it’s precisely this misperception that Pulaski will later dismantle."
"Riker’s exit as 'disciplined officer' in the Transporter Room is echoed in Pulaski’s demand to 'jettison emotional baggage' — both are the same defense: armor over vulnerability. The arc completes when he chooses, finally, to shed it."
"Riker’s exit as 'disciplined officer' in the Transporter Room is echoed in Pulaski’s demand to 'jettison emotional baggage' — both are the same defense: armor over vulnerability. The arc completes when he chooses, finally, to shed it."
"Pulaski’s counsel to 'jettison the emotional baggage' is the direct result of Riker’s misreading of Kyle’s trauma — her intervention is the emotional catalyst that prepares Riker for the anbo-jyutsu duel, where he'll finally see his father not as a rival, but as a survivor."
"Pulaski’s counsel to 'jettison the emotional baggage' is the direct result of Riker’s misreading of Kyle’s trauma — her intervention is the emotional catalyst that prepares Riker for the anbo-jyutsu duel, where he'll finally see his father not as a rival, but as a survivor."
"Pulaski’s advice gives Riker the necessary emotional clarity to stop running. When Kyle challenges him to anbo-jyutsu, Riker’s response — 'You're on' — is not rage but resolution: he finally chooses to face his father, not as a son seeking approval, but as a man ready for truth."
"Pulaski’s advice gives Riker the necessary emotional clarity to stop running. When Kyle challenges him to anbo-jyutsu, Riker’s response — 'You're on' — is not rage but resolution: he finally chooses to face his father, not as a son seeking approval, but as a man ready for truth."
"Pulaski’s advice gives Riker the necessary emotional clarity to stop running. When Kyle challenges him to anbo-jyutsu, Riker’s response — 'You're on' — is not rage but resolution: he finally chooses to face his father, not as a son seeking approval, but as a man ready for truth."
Key Dialogue
"PULASKI: Did he ever tell you why he never remarried?"
"PULASKI: I would have. In a cold minute. Twelve years ago, Kyle Riker was a civilian strategist advising Starfleet in its conflict with the Tholians. The starbase he was working from was attacked. None of the base crew was expected to live. And they all died... All except your father. Your father alone had the will to endure, to face the pain, to live."
"PULASKI: You know, if I were you... going out on the Ares, I'd jettison the emotional baggage you're still carrying around."